283
people found this helpful, as of 2023
ranked #93,576 most helpful
out of 571,544,897 reviews
★★★★☆
Some of these reviewers need to watch the movie again!
I remember watching this movie when it first came out on VHS. As a kid, I thought it was a frightening movie, a possible scenario of World War III. After buying the DVD and watching it again, I must say that it still stirs emotions in me. This depiction of an attack on U.S. soil is possible, but improbable. To watch this movie and say that the events shown could NEVER happen is foolish and ignorant.
One previous reviewer asks what happened to NATO in the movie. Well, if the reviewer had paid attention, NATO had dissolved in the movie. Another IMPORTANT detail that some reviewers left out was the nuclear attack on most bases and federal headquarters. The communists did not just take all their planes and tanks and just march in. A nuclear "first-strike" was initiated to throw the U.S. completely off-balance. Powers Boothe, who plays a downed F-15 pilot, explains all of these events to the kids that are now acting as guerillas in the movie. As someone who served in the Air Force as a missle launch control officer, I got to see how strategies like the ones portrayed in this movie could work.
The whole story in this movie is about Russians and Cubans (along with Nicaraguans) invading the U.S. and how it affects the lives of some high school kids. These kids become "The Wolverines". Named after their high school mascot, they become guerillas, slowly taking out small enemy installations and equipment. They do not single-handedly destroy all the commies as some other reviewers think that was depicted! There were other guerilla units, too.
The film portrays war in a somewhat negative light, but preserves patriotism and acknowledges the legitimacy of the Second Amendment. I highly recommend buying this DVD because of that! The only blemish that it has is the sound quality. I expected better sound with Dolby Digital and DVD quality.
August 2001 · Movies and TV
the product in question
Red Dawn
4.7★ · 9,118 ratings, as of 2023