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Football players take on North Korea in mindless 'Red Dawn'
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"Red Dawn" opens with a hard-fought high school football game before the next day in Spokane, Wash., is interrupted by the thud of bombs. The young gridiron stars of the Wolverines race outside to see enemy aircraft flying overhead in formation, dropping paratroopers from the skies. This is an alarming sight, but not to worry: The movie reassures us that an invasion by communist North Korea can be vanquished by the members of the team and their girlfriends, using mostly automatic weapons stolen from the North Koreans themselves. If you're wondering how North Korea (population 25 million) can raise enough invaders to attack the U.S. (population 315 million), it may help to understand that the original screenplay named the invaders as Chinese. After principal photography was completed three years ago and the studio (MGM) went belly-up, the enemy identity was changed to North Korea by reshooting several scenes, redubbing lots of dialogue and using digital adjustment to change the looks of flags, uniforms and the insignia on trucks and tanks. Did this involve a change in ideology in Hollywood? Not really. A marketing genius figured out that China is one of the biggest markets for American movie exports, and North Korea generates unimpressive box-office bucks for Yank product, as the trade papers like to word it. But back to football. The home-team Wolverines are headed by their star player, Matt Eckert (Josh Peck), whose older brother, Jed (Chris Hemsworth), is a Marine just returning from active duty. That's a nifty way to include someone with military training and experience on our side. Jed takes unofficial command as the Wolverines go into action against the invaders. Matt's girlfriend is Erica (Isabel Lucas), a cheerleader, and Toni (Adrianne Palicki) is a spunky hometown girl who develops a crush on Jed. The nature of the invasion quickly becomes clear. The North Koreans take over the police department as their headquarters, and co-opt the faithless mayor to help them issue pronouncements. His son, Daryl (Connor Cruise), of course, joins the Wolverines, who also include Josh Hutcherson (very good as the son in "The Kids Are All Right"). No mention is made of other Spokane high school teams, so it must be just this one heroic team and their recruits who turn back the invasion. The story's time frame is confusingly murky. How long does it take the North Koreans to land, import their heavy weapons and vehicles, enlist local traitors and start running things? What is their game plan? Is this a national invasion? How do they plan petrol deliveries? We're unclear what's happening in the rest of the U.S. The velocity of events picks up considerably, however, in an endless and mindless combat sequence in which the Wolverines prove to be fierce combat troops and the North Koreans are reassuringly incompetent. The kids, even the girlfriends, are adept at handling heavy-duty automatic weapons, even machine guns mounted on top of captured vehicles (or pointing out the sun roofs of their cars). They're also gifted strategists, instinctively occupying the high ground and spraying bullets down upon the hapless enemy forces who are often conveniently lined up in the street below. They achieve all of these things with remarkably little dialogue; mostly they just shout exhortations at each other and eavesdrop on speeches to the population by the enemy leader (Will Yun Lee). I'm not sure I saw any Wolverines actually killed -- at least no major characters. I'm sure I must have seen countless North Koreans mowed down, but given the movie's PG-13 rating, the carnage is far from graphic. A closing scene, rousingly patriotic, takes place back on the football field. I think I'm beginning to understand why the Chinese were not reckoned to be a prime market for this film. 'Red Dawn' MPAA rating: PG-13 for sequences of intense war violence and action, and for language. Length: 93 minutes. Verdict: 1 1/2 stars 
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Today is Tuesday, May 21, the 141st day of 2013. There are 224 days left in the year.
1863 -- 150 years ago: On Monday the 11th inst. on Center Ridge in Mercer County,some citizens got out their cannon to celebrate the taking of Richmond. The gun wasoverloaded and burst. No one was injured, but one 30-pound piece went though thesecond story of a house.
1888 -- 125 years ago: The old folks concert at the Harper Theater last night to benefit St.Luke's Cottage Hospital, attracted a large audience.
1913 -- 100 years ago: Unless depredation by vandals in Rock Island parks is halted,special policemen will be assigned to night duty to protect the flowers and other property.
1938 -- 75 years ago: Station WHBF has received a special citation from Washington forits participation in Air Mail Week, which was observed this week throughout the nation.
1963 -- 50 years ago: A 10-year high in employment in the Quad-City area was reachedat the end of the last quarter, according to an industrial employment barometer releasedtoday.
1988 -- 25 years ago: Pee Wee teams will be able to play baseball and softball as usualon Diamond Three at Dorrance Park this summer, but after that, the ball field is doomed.County crews have put the diamond back in shape after heavy trucks marred the playingfield earlier this spring. Illinois Department of Transportation crews drove onto it to makeborings for the relocation of the junction of Illinois 84 and the Port Byron-Hillsdale road.
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