L'Aube rouge

It's not as stupid as it might seem after reading the content here or the text on the DVD. Of course, it's clear from start to finish who the good guys and bad guys are, and at the same time, it's sometimes clear that the production didn't raise as much money as the film needed. But the action scenes are shot very skillfully and now and then something surprising even happens, so why not. (15/03/2015)

This is not an action movie that would change anything in the genre, it is not a movie that changes your beliefs, but still it is quite a good entertainment that doesn't only aim to entertain you, but also a little bit to make you think about the movie. I consider this to be a fairly significant contribution of the film, which otherwise doesn't deviate from anything essential. It at least tries to make you think a little. However, there is quite a lot of patriotism in the movie "Red Dawn". (19/11/2013)

A story built on the hypothesis of what would happen if the Russians invaded the US and occupied part of the territory. The film shows how a bunch of American kids from a small town become guerrilla fighters against the Russian occupiers. Yeah, it sounds crazy, and it is crazy; or rather, it is ridiculous, but if you turn off your brain, it is watchable. (04/07/2002)

In the 80s, American teenagers decided about much films were going to earn and therefore the success of the film industry, so even propaganda films had to adapt to their tastes. Red Dawn is a combination of an adventure teenage film and the crudest political propaganda that reached its peak during the Cold War. It was written in the first half of the 80s when Ronald Reagan ruled the United States with his perception of the Soviet Union as an evil empire. Both blocks then revived the most worn-out ways of presenting their political opponents, as if taken from the 50s. Out of nowhere, a ruthless army of Soviet, Cuban, and Nicaraguan assassins bursts onto the peaceful and unsuspecting American citizens, constructing concentration camps overnight and most importantly, driving away the weak American army. The film doesn't really bother with much, least of all logic. It is full of the stupidest clichés, American patriotism, and American family values. In retrospect, it's unbelievable how seriously this film was taken at the time, whether by the creators, film critics, or even journalists who considered it a serious topic for discussion. Equally unbelievable is the 61% rating that this mess has collected on FilmBooster to this day. The fact that the then-great idol Patrick Swayze and the emerging actress Jennifer Grey first appeared together on the screen, shortly before shining in the commercially successful hit Dirty Dancing, is not relevant to the history of cinema. Overall impression: 5%. (20/08/2010)

Milius is a bit of a schizophrenic who tries to make a convincing point about things that didn't happen... Red Dawn is an attempt to imitate a heroic war movie - it just praises the heroes of a non-existent war with all seriousness and ceremony, which is not explicitly ridiculous, but ultimately just so strangely naïve (like a child playing with tin soldiers and mourning the death of one of them). Trying to plastically describe the partisan conflict between American teenagers and Soviet-Cuban aggressors is meaningless as a mere premise (unless we want to label it propaganda by its very nature), and if the whole thing were more excessive, it would undoubtedly be much more fun. But the authenticity game gets boring after a while, and Patrick Swayze's heartfelt rubberness doesn't help either. The ending totally misses the mark, and its paranoid tearfulness can only be attributed to the apparitions of the Cold War. A hopelessly expired film, although dyed-in-the-wool Republicans and NRA members may still be burning their calves... "Often feels like a Republican wet dream manifested into a surrealistic Orwellian nightmare". I'll scratch my name under that testimony. (20/03/2011)