I saw the trailer a few days ago. The only thing I thought was cool was the first shoot down of the transport. Otherwise this is a movie that I won't see. It should NOT have been remade. Different world, different times.

An invasion of the USA has always been been fiction but at least during the Cold War we were paranoid and I was in 9th grade and thought that shit was soooo real!

Even if you swap the NKs for China it don't matter they can't do it and even if they could their economy collapses instantly buy invading the their export markets.

The NK's basically only export to China, Iran and Cuba - so invading the US wont hurt their export markets at all. Cant wait to see it - hopefully this time they have enough of a budget to show that an RPG exploding inside a helicopter makes it go BOOM and fall to the ground - not just turn off smoking.

Honestly, once I was grown up and could think it through, it does make a sort of sense. There is only 3 relatively easy ways to go from the east to the west once you get past the plains. The southern route in Red Dawn got shot when the mexicans went north: there is no way they don't get the literally 3 miles past the Mexican border to cut that route in southern California. Up north, you have the old Great Northern/Milwaukee Road route through montana, as well a *just* to the south you have the UP. All three routes get necked down hard on the Columbia River. That leaves just the middle route, which is the DRG&W and the UP shooting through towards Salt Lake city. Both of those are part of the Colorado Joint Line. Its also where the southern route comes up against the middle road as well, so its a huge transportation choke point. I assumed what the Reds was doing was cutting the middle road, forcing the US to depend on the northern route to go east to west, and what with the push from Alaska, the question is how far down into BC or even Washington State they get: at any rate, the Columbia River Choke point is in *very* easy range of Tac Air. So basically, in the Red Dawn Scenario, there is *no* rail traffic from the Eastern US to the Pacific Coast, which means it will eventually wither on the Vine.

Not a bad plan as it goes.

I guess the first thing I'd do is surreptitiously bankroll the election of a president who had no interest in seeing the US maintain military and economic superiority and indeed actively disdained it going so far as to deeming that the US would "lead from behind" in any activities it did undertake.

I'd make sure he was a charming ideologue, a darling to the youth yet with enough heft and gravitas that the baby-boomer generation would be drawn to him as well. I'd make sure it was someone who would fiddle while a fiscal crisis burned assuring that if his administration wasn't the one directly responsible for castrating any ability for the U.S. to maintain a global response (and domestic response) capability, his successors would be in such a deep financial hole that there'd be absolutely no way they could fix both the economy and a domestic defense budget. I'd make sure he was someone who would convince our allies we were no longer worth assisting, by way of subtle insults (small, cultural ones), direct refusal to assist with defense (like denying an ABM shield), and insistence on ignoring regional crises regarding other nations' manufacture of WMDs and vows to use them on our allies. Thus, whether he was in office or his successor was in office, by the time we called for help there'd be no-one left willing to lift a finger when someone "kicked the door in" on us and the "whole rotten structure" came falling down.

That's how I'd start.

Thinking about Red Dawn (the original, not the remake our ChiCom masters permitted), Powers Booth makes the comment "They know we won't use nukes on our own soil."

Maybe it's just me, but isn't that just a little bit fishy?

I mean...if ever there's a do-or-die type situation when you've gotta use everything you have, isn't that it?

Or maybe he meant strategic nukes: maybe there's been a use of tac nukes along the front lines already?

Of course, leaving a glowing crater where scenic Denver used to be is also an easy way to help the commies prove their whole "AMERICA IS A WHOREHOUSE WHERE THE REVOLUTIONARY IDEALS OF YOUR FOREFATHERS HAVE BEEN FORGOTTEN." (if I remember the mandatory reeducation slideshow from the scene at the drive-in)

Would this hypothetical President also be considering a treaty with the UN that would affect private ownership of weapons? And maybe have a mainstream media obviously biased towards him?

That treaty would have to be couched in such obfuscating language that the subjects...erm, citizens of this hypothetical United States as described in this scenario would be entirely unsuspecting of the abrogation of 2nd Amendment rights such a treaty would in fact incur.

That's what internet experts are for.

Thank goodness we're here!

- C.

I was referring to China would kill its own export markets buy invading the USA.
Probably could have worded that better.


You know I always kinda like the smoking RPG hit on the Hind. Just thought it looked cool even it should have killed the crew or crashed the bird. I managed to see the original red dawn a few weeks ago. Still classic camp still unrealistic still kind a cool. :)

According to a friend who flys for the US Army that RPG-7 should have blown that hind in two. Think about how powerful that RPG is. it hit inside the crew compartment at and upwards, outwards and rearwards angle. At the very least that Hind should have been spinning out of control from a busted tail rotor.

I just had a chat with the 13 year old me who saw the original on opening day when it was released in the theaters in 1984 and he confirms that it was 114 minutes of pure awesome then and still is now. Reserving judgment on the remake.

Dud round?

Most likely way the hind could have survived even then it would have immediatly returned to base. Very few pilots are willing to fly an aircraft that just took that sort of hit and not head to the nearest friend'y mechanic.

Even just a "near miss" might be cause for an "unscheduled oil change".
In times of stress, the laundryman is your friend... ;)

similarly I hope if they show tank battles that they will have the US tanks actually be able to hit the enemy ones on either the first or second round! That US tank gunner in the movie was pretty bad - and having that tank just sit there like that should have ended its day pretty quickly.

I remember seeing that movie myself when it first came out. Loved seeing kids my age kick Soviet butt.

In honesty the Soviet tankers were pretty awful too.