The “reboot” rumors and news have been flowing out of Hollywood recently faster than people leaving the Florida Keys before a hurricane. Some I’m not too keen on: Cliffhanger, Hellraiser, and Nightmare on Elm Street; others I’m looking forward to: Red Dawn, Fantastic Four, and Predator.
One particular reboot, Red Dawn, is now that much closer to becoming a reality since picking a lead actor. According Kellvin Chavez at Latino Review, Chris Hemsworth (Star Trek, Thor), has landed the role of lead Wolverine Jed Eckert in the upcoming MGM movie, helmed by Dan Bradley and written by Carl Ellsworth (The Last House on the Left).
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Hemsworth was on screen for all of twelve minutes in the new Star Trek film and the consensus is he did a great job as George Kirk. Last week Screen Rant reported Hemsworth had also snagged the role of Thor in the upcoming Marvel comic movie.
Patrick Swayze played Jed Eckert in the original 1984 Red Dawn and I think Hemsworth has some big shoes to fill. In his prime (and until he got hurt), Swayze was THE man in Hollywood. He has recently seen some success on the A&E show The Beast.
Like Swayze once was, Hemsworth is quickly becoming a “hot” commodity in Hollywood. He has upcoming roles in Joss Whedon’s The Cabin in the Woods, David Twohy’s A Perfect Getaway and Stephen Milburn Anderson’s Ca$h; all of which are scheduled for release next year.
Ellsworth has not hinted what direction the story will take, but because the first Red Dawn had Russians invading during the Cold War, I’m thinking the Red Dawn remake will now focus more on Islamic extremists invading America. That is pure speculation on my part, but it would make sense to follow current political and world trends like the original did. I’m not sure how they will tie rural America and Islamic extremists together but I liked what Ellsworth did with Red Eye and Disturbia, so I have faith that he will deliver a decent story.
The original Wolverines from 1984’s Red Dawn.
The only thing that raises my eyebrows so far is the choice of Dan Bradley as director. To date Bradley’s only credits are as a stunt director on action films including The Bourne Ultimatum, Spiderman 3, and Crank. I fear, that for his first film, he may focus too heavily on his comfort zone and the stunts will be over-the-top and enjoyable to watch, but the story will get lost in all the mayhem (a la Michael Bay). I could be and have been wrong before (so my wife tells me often), so it could turn out that Bradley delivers a great movie.
Quick trivia: Red Dawn was listed as the most violent movie ever in the 2007 Guinness World Book of Records.
Red Dawn comes to theaters September 24, 2010.
Am I the only person looking forward to this reboot or will anybody else join me with their fist in the air and scream “WOLVERINES!!!”?
Source: Latino Review
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32 Comments
okay but id prefer the guy that played james kirk
i really loved the original movie
I guess Guiness didn’t see the newest Rambo movie. LOL
I really liked Red Dawn. I just picked it up recently on DVD for $5. Hemsworth seems like a good choice, but like Paul said, the choice of the director is a head scratcher. Personally, I don’t think the should be remaking this film OR Predator. Both were done perfectly the first time. Now a Predator 3 I would be cool with…
In 2007? No, probably not.
I personally don’t think ANY film needs to be remade
Not true, Matt. I can list a half dozen films that should be remade:
Spider-Man 3
Fantastic Four
Ghostrider
Daredevil
Superman Returns
X-Men 3
I agree with others that most of these should not be remade, but if your gonna remake red dawn, at least keep the same plot/story. Why change it? It works. It’s a movie, it’s not suppose to be real, or current, or have anything to do with the real world. It’s just suppose to be entertaining, everything else is gravy.
They, as in them, as in the bad guys (think conspiracy theory here), already ruinned Battlestar Galactica by making it exactly the way this article say they want to make red dawn. Please don’t.
I hope they don’t make the bad guys into Islamic terrorists. I’m a bit tired of that stereotype and it’s not believable that they could invade and conquer America.
An interesting bad guy would be the Republicans or some other internal group of evil Americans who want to take over the government. (Maybe bankers???) I read a book by Orson Scott Card – I forgot the name but it was pretty recent – about a near future civil war which covers this same idea from the perspective of the military. It was a decent read.
@Rose – You complain about stereotyping and then in the same breath you stereotype Republicans and bankers, typical liberal fare. I would be concerned about the movie taking the direction you mentioned but since Michael Moore isn’t directing I’m not.
Its not stereotyping to say Islamic extremists, it would be however to say Afghan terrorists. My point was the 1st movie based it plot on the geo-political events of the day. Russia was the “bad guy” of the time. Its wasn’t feasible for Russia to invade in Colorado without the US knowing about it before they got there.
“Republicans or some other internal group of evil Americans”
Nice.
Vic
Vic,
W/ Nalin Palin as the villian.
The thing that worries me more about Dan Bradley is the fact that he worked on LIONS FOR LAMBS as a second unit director. So that liberal hypocrite Rose might get her wish afterall.
How much do you guys want to be she lives here in America, reaping the benefits of being in the USA, only to bitch and complain? Here’s an idea, MOVE TO ONE OF THOSE ‘BETTER’ COUNTRIES!
I’m not being mean, I’m trying to help her, if I didn’t like it here, I would move too. In fact, that’s what my family did. They didn’t like being in China, so they escaped, pretty common sense thing to do… I was pretty young when I came to the USA, so it wasn’t really my choice at the time, but I’m SOOOO glad that they did, thank you mom and dad, I love the USA.
Paul, I was KIDDING… about the bankers part at least. LOL. I mentioned the Republicans because they’d pretty much have to stage a coup d’etat to get back in power at this point! A red state vs. blue state civil war would be pretty cool on screen and somewhat related to the current political atmosphere (though totally far-fetched). I could imagine it as providing a good scenario for a Red Dawn remake.
Also, you don’t think Islamic extremists or Afghan terrorists is a stereotype? I’ve seen them in movies countless times and they are always more or less the same. If that’s not a stereotype, then I’m not sure what is.
Actually read my reply again.
“Its not stereotyping to say Islamic extremists, it would be however to say Afghan terrorists.”
Red Dawn is not and never has been a political movie and it should stay that way. To me, it was the very reason why NO country could ever invade us. Bubba and his shotgun would stand up and revolt at the very idea.
Don’t think insurgents can give a foreign military hell? Just check out how hard it has been for the US overseas the past few years with insurgents. We out number them and out power them but the insurgents are still there and causing havoc. I am a HUGE armed forces supporter btw but I’m stating the obvious.
In other words, our right to bare arms also gives us the ability to defend ourselves when the armed forces are stretched to their limit.
Paul, I’m trying to understand what you’re saying, but I don’t get it. As far as movie villains go, I don’t see much difference between Islamic extremists and Afghan terrorists. To me, both phrases are stereotypes since they both describe a type of group. We’ve seen them as movie villains many times before: True Lies, Back to the Future (remember the Libyans?), The Siege, etc. They are very familiar and I just hope that the filmmakers have something more original to show us.
If you want them to make the exact same movie again and switch the Russians to Islamic extremists then that’s perfectly fine. In fact, I agree with you that this is a likely scenario for the remake. I simply think it would be boring.
Islamic and Afghan terrorists as bad guys? Come on now, let’s be realistic…
And a red vs blue war in the USA wouldn’t be so interesting. Hm, a bunch of gun wielding hillbillies versus a bunch of Starbucks sipping yuppies, I wonder who’s going to win…
@Rose = Well someone has to be the bad guy and invade America and I’m pretty sure it won’t be the Canadians (we buy too many of their cheap prescription drugs). Give me a less politically charged idea besides making America out to be the bad guy (President is doing that just fine on his own)
@Kem J – LOL, I don’t think the yuppies would have to worry about th hillbillies because I’m pretty sure they couldn’t find the Starbucks to begin with. All the yuppies would have to do is stay there and away from Walmart, oh the Bass Pro Shops
Well, it’s hard not to stereotype terrorists whose mission is to eradicate anybody who doesn’t agree with them.
Then again, liberals seem to be precariously leaning into that direction, because I think I just got called evil for no good reason at all… weee.
I find it hilarious how a remake of RED DAWN of all things has sparked yet another tiring political “debate.” Liberal…Republican…who the heck cares? Why pigeonhole yourself as a specific type anyway? Yeesh…
We’re supposed to be talking about movies, people…MOO-VEEEeeeeeeees.
I wonder if you realize that about 90% of movies have political messages behind them. The issue here is that Red Dawn was originally leaning one way, now it’s being handed over to someone who has associations with movies that leaned the other way, so a lot of the original fans who liked it for its overall message probably would not like this new revelation…
Hey Paul, I know we have a right to “bare” arms, but is it ok if I decide to wear a sweatshirt? LOL..j/k dude.
I really hope they don’t call Islamic terrorists either. It’s been played out in movies and on tv. How about North Korea or China? THAT would be more in line with the original (which again, I don’t think needs to be remade), but also more in sync with the current world situation. Better yet, how about ENGLAND? Yeah, they want their colonies back and will invade Vermont to get them!!
@AndyS – Good catch bud. LoL I hate when I miss things like that. I really dig your idea about North Korea or China. That sounds way more entertaining and far less political. Nice suggestion.
I think no matter what, the enemy HAS to be Communist. *Red* Dawn isn’t just the color of the sunrise you know…
So whether that be Cuba like in the original or China, all good to me. It’ll be more realistic if it was China, we could crush Cuba like they weren’t even there.
Or even better, and this will NEVER happen while this government is still in power, most likely it’ll get censored, it can be a hypothetical situation where our current government intends to change our political and economic system so drastically that it causes another Civil War. Red Dawn will still make sense, like the Chinese newspapers and magazines read when Obama won, “America has turned red.” To the Chinese who tried to escape China’s communist regime, red means socialism.
Oh crap, forgot about the filter, can’t say $ociali$m…
Ken,
I have NO block in place for the word “socialism,” I don’t know why the spam filter flagged that. Maybe it’s something in the spam software that’s outside my control…
Vic
Are you sure Vic? I’ve had posts get filtered with that word, I’ve tried posting again with that one word changed and it doesn’t get filtered. Oh well, no big deal, that word really shouldn’t be brought up that often on a movie site anyhow, lol. I have to shut up about political stuff…
I’m glad they’re doing a remake, I love Red Dawn but the old filming aggrevates me, too spoiled with the better filming.
The Red Dawn remake will be a hit,just looking at all the
debates being discussed ranging from politics to which country has the best military in the world and it all stems from a remake in the works about a fictional invasion of the USA from CHINA/RUSSIA. Everyone will go and see this movie, some for the action packed entertainment value, some to critisize the film itself saying this couldn’t happen, that shouldn’t happen, some to look for some if any political messages,some to see how different it is from the 1984 original, to see if there is any political correctness added in. ETC. For one reason or another this film will be packed on opening weekend. I’ll be there with my communism sucks t-shirt on. WOLVERINES!!!!!!!!!!!
LOL Mathan, make me one of those shirts too, haha.
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