Red Dawn (A-)

Despite its considerable flaws, Red Dawn is an incredibly entertaining, satisfyingly patriotic action flick that perfectly captures the spirit of the original.

Red Dawn (2012) is a remake of Red Dawn (1984). The 1984 version told the story of a group of high schoolers and college kids who form a band of guerilla warriors after the Soviets invade the United States. The 2012 version takes place in modern times, so a Soviet invasion wasn’t going to cut it. The new bad guys: North Korea. When the movie was shot it was China, but they digitally changed the flags in post-production so as to make the foes Korean. Either way, it is kind of dumb: China’s entire economy is built around trading with the US, and North Korea lacks the manpower or weapons for a full scale invasion. However, showcasing a series of violent terrorist attacks orchestrated by people on the other side of the world wouldn’t have the same effect as the shot of commie comandoes parachuting from the sky. In order to explain the scenario, the movie comes up with a semi-plausible explanation wherein North Korea--using Chinese and Russian technology--is able to shut down every electronic device in the US, thus leaving it vulnerable to attack. Less clearly explained is how the nation of under 25 million is able to rally an army that can launch a long-term occupation of a nation of over 311 million. However, if you are still considering watching the movie after seeing the trailer then you know you can get over this fact.

With a concept that is kind of dumb, it would be very easy for the movie to get too campy and too self-referential. Instead, it takes itself deadly seriously. This is certain to turn off many, but it is most definitely the best choice. The original Red Dawn was a celebration of patriotism and the indefatigable nature of the American spirit even in the terrifying climate of the Cold War. The new movie takes this message to the current age. A full-scale invasion might be implausible, but it is most certainly true that there are vicious armies out there just as hell-bent on destroying the US and everything it stands for as the Soviets were. The message that a group of ordinary, everyday people--kids even--can make a stand for their country and their ideals is just as powerful as always.

Now it is easy to scoff at the above idea, not because one disagrees with it (in broad theory, at least, few Westerners do), but because it seems painfully simple. Honestly, though, it seems that movies struggle to convey it as clearly as Red Dawn does. Even good action films don’t. Take, for example, The Avengers. In terms of acting, visuals, dialogue, and budget Avengers is the superior to Dawn, and its message is pretty much the same: That the idea of a pure, larger-than-life American hero is still able to inspire the nation in turbulent times. However, Avengers’ many subplots about corrupt government officials and conflicted and troubled super-soldiers along with the inherent barrier put between the audience and the story by having a billionaire cyborg super-hero as the protagonist manages to dilute this message to the point where it seems tacked-on; adding self-referential jokes greatly magnifies this effect. Despite its lower budget and more obvious flaws, I found the comically earnest and down-to-Earth style of Red Dawn ultimately more satisfying than the super-human thrills of Avengers.

Red Dawn does explore some more complicated war-time scenarios than its 80s predecessor. American civilians are shown joining the new North Korean police force in order to ease the pain of transition, and end up becoming targets of the heroes. This plot thread is soon dropped by making these so-called “traitors” so cowardly that no one really cares of their fate, but the notion that an underground resistance movement would include killing one’s own people adds an extra dimension to the whole affair. The high schoolers band of rebels, named the Wolverines, use the same strategy as in the original--blowing up North Korean headquarters even if it costs them their life--but I think the idea of car IEDs and suicide bombings being implemented by the good guys seems much more sinister now than in the 80s, and thus adds to the impact that sometimes you have to get your hands dirty in order to win a war.

A major flaw in Red Dawn is that the dialogue between the Wolverines seems very staged and uninvolving. This is not the fault of the cast (though lead actor Josh Peck doesn’t help matters); it is due to the fact that while writers Carl Ellsworth and Jeremy Passmore did a great job on the overall story, they could not write any convincing character interaction, and the newbie director was unable to get the cast to improvise.
The other big problem in Dawn cannot in anyway be blamed on the filmmakers. The picture still had a few days left in filming (enough for six minutes worth of the movie) when the distributor--MGM--went bankrupt; the story is complete and there are no plot holes, but the fact that there are missing scenes does show.

These flaws are significant, but not enough to make one skip the film. The action is compelling and the slight change in the ending from the original is undoubtedly an improvement. Another good part is the work of Chris Hemsworth, who actually made this movie before he achieved stardom in Thor. His charisma and charm bring a lot to the movie; he is definitely a grade above your typical action star.
Red Dawn has its problems, but that doesn’t keep it from being an immensely entertaining and satisfying action movie.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 (C)

With the pretty visuals, surprisingly funny moments, and so many characters you barely notice that nothing happens in the whole movie. Nothing can excuse that anti-climactic ending, though.

When we last saw the Twilight Universe, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) had chosen the vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) over the werewolf Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) and had nearly died giving birth to a half-human/half-vampire child named Renesme (MacKenzie Foy), but had been revived as a vampire. Breaking Dawn Part 2 begins with Bella’s first hunt. For those unaware, Edward and his family are rare “vegetarian vampires” who through incredible restraint practiced for decades have been able to live off the blood of animals rather than that of humans. Bella starts out stalking a deer, but her superhuman sense of smell alerts her to a mildly injured mountain climber nearby. Bella is consumed with the thirst for blood and charges off to feast on the unfortunate adventurer. Edward runs after her, grabs her arm, and says “don’t do it--you can control yourself.” Bella apologizes and goes and eats a puma instead. One scene later, Edward’s mother remarks that since some vampires have additional super-powers (Edward, for example, can read minds), Bella must have the ability to exercise great self-control and it is thus quite easy for her to avoid killing humans. And that plot thread, which had been built up for five two-hour movies, is solved.

For the remainder of the movie, Emmy-winner Melissa Rosenberg (Dexter) desperately tries to form some semblance of a story. Last year, I wrote that the previously laughable Twilight franchise had produced a true gem with Breaking Dawn Part 1, a movie I put on my top ten list of 2011. Now, we see the negative effects of putting all the best parts of the final Twilight book in one movie and then devoting another to tying up loose ends.
This movie tackles the interesting topic of the Voltury, the royalty of the vampire world that offered Edward membership back in New Moon. Concerned with the growing power of vegetarian vampires and Renesme, which they (falsely) believe is a vampirized child, the Voltury decide to go to the Cullens’ home in Forks, Washington and kill them. This would make for an interesting movie, except for the fact that Stephanie Meyers--who wrote the books--didn’t really spend much time telling it. Rosenberg frequently starts interesting plot-lines and gives an entertaining fight scene, but in the end must avoid telling a satisfying ending since she has to be faithful to the source material. My guess is that both Meyer and Twilight distributor Summit want to save the inevitable conflict between the Voltury and the Cullens for a Renesme franchise, which would be fine except for the fact that it was the plotline advertised for this movie.

The stories of Bella, Jacob, and Edward all seem told, so little time is devoted to character development for them (probably a good thing, since none of those characters were remotely interesting). Instead, the trio takes a backseat to about twenty vampires new to the franchise (not an exaggeration). These new bloodsuckers have allied with the Cullens against the Voltury for various reasons. The most interesting of these are Casey Labow’s Kate, who can fire blasts of electricity from her palms, and Lee Pace’s Garret, a non-vegetarian vampire who fought valiantly for the Americans in the War of 1812. Of course, there are also some stupid characters that shouldn’t be included, first and foremost being Patrick Brennan’s Irish vampire Liam, who dressed like a leprechaun. I was most intrigued by how the Egyptian clan of vampires hides the universal vampire trait of sparkling in the sunlight in their sunny homeland (the past four movies insist that by living in the perpetually cloudy Washington mountains the Cullens avoid notice).

In this movie, like the others, there is the disturbing element of how unconcerned the Cullens seem to be with the existence of the non-vegetarian vampires, which are effectively super-powered serial killers. Here they actually ally with a bunch of them, but never seem remotely conflicted if perhaps with their extraordinary super-powers and vast knowledge of vampires they should try to stop them. The earlier movies stated that vampires could not battle each other since the Voltury forbade it, but seeing as current circumstances have brought the Voltury and the Cullens to war it seems that should be a non-issue now.
Director Bill Condon (Dreamgirls) has done a great job of taking away the dumbest elements from the earlier movies. The acting is better (Stewart has greatly improved since she started the series), the scenes are much quicker and concise, the make-up is exponentially superior, and cinematography (by Pan’s Labyrinth’s Guillermo Navarro) is gorgeous. Condon can’t undo the appearances of everything in the early movies, be he chooses to frequently ignore the effect of sunlight on vampire skin, since Twilight Director Catherine Hardwicke made the sparkling thing look so stupid; he also uses ample speed ramping and slow-motion to hide the cheesiness of the “vampire super-speed” special effect used by Hardwicke.

The best element is Billy Burke (TV’s Revolution) as Charlie, Bella’s police officer father. Burke has always brought incredible depth to his role, and here Rosenberg takes the most amounts of liberties with Meyer’s book in order to give Burke the opportunity to make his scenes both funnier and more in depth. The scene where Jacob reveals his werewolf ability to Charlie could be the most humorous I’ve seen this year, and the moment where Charlie awkwardly attends a Christmas party where every other attendee is aware of the vampire conspiracy (Bella refuses to tell him) is one of the series’ most heart-felt. He can’t save the movie, though.
Breaking Dawn Part 2 is watchable, but the lack of a plot makes it a bit of a letdown.

End of Watch (A-)

The ability of End of Watch to take what is essentially a simple story and make it such an emotional tribute to the police force lies with the engaging, genuine relationship between its central characters.

David Ayer writes two kind of movies: fast-paced action-comedies like The Fast and the Furious (the original) and dark, suspenseful cop dramas like Training Day. End of Watch is definitely one in the latter category. From the opening car chase, shot in near-total silence, the movie is gripping and burns with intensity. The story simply follows two Los Angeles police officers’ daily battles, both in the crime-ridden streets and their personal lives. The film is building up to a showdown with a brutal, new drug cartel that treats LA like territory to be conquered and the police like an opposing army; however, there is no one incident that triggers the feud, no personal connection between the gangsters and cops, and not even one character who can be deemed the head bad guy. This isn’t so much a cops-and-robbers adventure than a look at the ground troops in a war.

Ayer is less experienced as a director than as a writer, but it is his work on set that really shows. The two protagonists are played Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena, and Ayer makes every moment between the two so genuine that it is impossible not to care. The credit should also be given to the stars. Both are recognizable actors with several blockbusters to their names as well as some critically lauded work (Gyllenhaal got an Oscar nomination for Brokeback Mountain and Pena had juicy roles in World Trade Center and Crash), but neither are really considered Hollywood A-list. In End of Watch, they prove themselves as never before.

Many have criticized Ayer’s choice to shoot the movie in found footage format, something generally reserved for micro-budget horror fare like Paranormal Activity. I think it was a good choice--this is an intensely personal film and one that must truly absorb the audience, and by actually having the characters be the ones operating the camera, it does just that. However, there are moments where Ayer’s inexperience with the style shows: I am fairly certain that he knows the logistics of why cameras are placed where they are when they are and whether someone is holding them, but there are scenes where the audience member will become distracted trying to figure it out. These scenes are probably most jarring in the conversations between Pena and Gyllenhaal’s characters in the squad car, which are captured from possibly four different angles (how many cameras can these guys afford, and how much time did they spend setting them up in strategic locations?). The scenes where it is most comical are where the gangsters are shooting the action. Why would a career criminal take a camera to video-tape all his illegal activity? Isn’t it a lot of work holding a camera in one hand and positioning it at your target while you fire a gun with the other hand (at least the cops have theirs clipped to their pockets like pen protectors)? And why would Mexican gangsters who’s first language is obviously Spanish insist on speaking English with each other?
In the end, though, these are only minor complaints. The movie is riveting from beginning to end, and it is impossible not to get choked up at that final scene.
End of Watch is a powerful tribute to the police who risk their lives every day to keep our cities safe.