Red Dawn Review

On a bright sunny Saturday morning the U. S had been invaded by North Koreans, and the city of Spokane, Washington was the initial target. The innocent citizens found themselves prisoners, and their town under enemy occupation. It was Jed Eckert (a twenty-something Marine, recently home from Iraq), and his brother Matt (a high school football player), who gathered a group of young men (known as the Wolverines) to defend their country. They hid in the woods and vigorously trained. These men showed courage and strength while sacrificing their lives to fight the invaders for freedom. Red Dawn, a remake of the 1984 original film, is an action packed war movie, one that teenage boys will love!

Rating: 3 out of 5 buckets
Release Date: March 4, 2013
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 14+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: Excessive
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild
Will Kids Like It? Yes

See the trailer here!

Talking Points:

There were messages about patriotism and teamwork woven through the film. Jed tells the group, “We inherited our freedom, now it’s up to all of us to fight for it.” My sons and nephews had chills during some of the intense patriotic scenes.

The two brothers, Jed and Matt, were very close. Though they had some issues with each other, they ultimately supported and loved one another.

One boy, who had been implanted with a tracking device, separated himself from the group to protect them from danger.

There were a lot of well known actors, whom teenagers will like. To name a few; Chris Hemsworth, Josh Peck,from the show Drake and Josh, and Adrianne Palicki from the show, Friday Night Lights.

Parents need to be aware of the excessive, disturbing violent scenes. In the film two boys watched their father die and a boy saw his brother die; the violence never ended.

Sexual Content: Mild

• We saw a couple kissing. The boy began to run his hand up her leg, but she slaped it.
• References were made about “hot, sexy girls.”

Violent Content: Excessive

• Numerous people died from explosives, machine guns, pistols and tanks.
• The group of boys attacked the North Korean headquarters, during the raid there were several explosions.
• There were combat-related violent scenes throughout most of the film.
• We saw a character drinking a deer’s blood, which was disgusting.
• We saw one character stitching up another character’s open wound, the camera zoomed in on the wound.

Crude o Profane Language: Excessive

• The f-word was said once. We heard “sh–,” “a–,”h–,” and “b–ch,” throughout the film. We also heard, “d-ck,” “pr–k,” and “b–tard,”

Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild

• Jed was shown drinking beer. He tried to get his teenage brother to drink a one as well.
• We saw character’s drinking at a bar.

Will Kids Like It? Yes

• I brought 4 teenage boys who all loved the film.

As I previously mentioned, this is an action packed war movie, one that boys may like. Parents need to be aware of the excessive violence and profane language. Depending on the child, I recommend this for boys ages 14 and up.

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