A movie idea based on 'Red Dawn'

How about, in comparison to a movie in which North Korea invades the USA (impossible), someone does a movie in which South Korea, Japan and the USA invade North Korea (potentially plausible). It could go like this: Kim Jong-un goes off his rocker and fires a missile at, say, an uninhabited Japanese island. This finally pushes SK, Japan and the USA over the edge and triggers an invasion thereof. The movie would alternate between the perspective of a group of defending North Korean soldiers and a group of offending South Korean, Japanese and American soldiers. At one point, out of spite, North Korea attempts to fire a nuclear missile at Seoul, Tokyo or San Francisco but because of outdated and poorly-maintained equipment, it instead explodes in the atmosphere or even on the ground still within North Korea itself. In another scene, the offending soldiers attach one end of a chain to the neck of a statue of one of the three Kims, attach the other end to the back of a jeep or tank, and then pull the statue over, whereupon they clap, cheer and spit & urinate on the statue. Obviously, North Korea wouldn't stand a chance in such a situation, because China and Russia refuse to help since North Korea attacked first. Therefore, the film would end with the sacking of Pyongyang and the capture, trial and execution of Kim Jong-un.

The whole thing would be semi-realistic/mockumentary in style; I'm thinking like District 9 or Battle Los Angeles without sci-fi elements. It could even be a found-footage movie.

Anyone like this idea? Anyone got further suggestions? (I posted a querry about this in the forum of the Red Dawn remake on IMDB, but nobody replied).

It's an interesting idea that might need some work. Still, probably better than any idea I could come up with for a war film.

That's not really based on Red Dawn. That's just a bog-standard war film.

Not necessarily. Has there been a war film about a completely fictional war that isn't either a fantasy or a sci-fi? With a high degree of realism? All I can think of is Tears of the Sun.

Three countries beating up on one misguided, jingoistic, and in your story idea, incompetent enemy?

Not really my cup of tea.

I'd rather see the US take on a group of invading countries. Countries like Iran, North Korea, and Cuba. At first the attitude is blase, with the US govt and military thinking "Please, not only do we have the best equipment, but we've got a ton of emergency scenarios for this. These suckers have no chance."

.......Until, that is they are horrified to discover Canada and Mexico have (for some inexplicable reason) voided their treaties and joined in declaring war on the US. Not only does America now have to fight it's too closest neighbors (and allies) but the US no longer has the advantage of knowing that no enemy can use Canadian or Mexican land/airspace.

In short, America's screwed. As various states fall to this new alliance of enemies, a core group of military, militia, and former criminals decide to take advantage of the America's would be conquerers bickering over the spoils, and retake the nation.

In fact, you could release the film over a 4th of July weekend, and the tagline could be "This July 4th, Take Back America."

edited 11th Jul '12 2:26:56 PM by TheStarshipMaxima

They could just have Russia invade again.

But Russia isn't Communist anymore, therefore, they're harder to demonize.

TSM, good luck actually supporting those forces...

Canada's armed forces are, size-wise, a joke (if a well-trained one, granted), ditto Mexico's (if not so well-trained). None of the other countries you mention have logistics worth talking about, and all of them have different equipment that means they can't rely on local hardware supplies. To support a major invasion of the continental US is no small task, even before accounting for the "rifle behind every blade of grass" that Yamamoto spoke of in regards to the notion of invading the US proper.

Just like with the Roman Empire, before forces from without can destroy the US, forces from within have to weaken it. That, however, would probably be the subject of another movie entirely, if not the source of a good bit of exposition before the invasion action.

Of course you're right Nohbody. I just thought it would be funny if America is counting on no enemy being able to come at it via it's two neighbors and suddenly, "oh yes they can".

As good as America's military is, I'm sure there's a certain point where you simply can't fight everybody at once. Think of it as America vs. the Zerg Rush.

All I want is some scenario where America gets to engage in a coast-to-coast battle to repel entrenched invaders. Aerial dogfights over the Rockies, troops trying to outmaneuver each other in the Minnesota woodlands, Canadian and American forces both having homefield advantage in the Windsor, ON/Detroit, MI corridor.

A big action finale which features two simultaneously showdowns in San Francisco and New York City.

Damn, I really wanna see this movie now .

A war like that would probably be more likely if you could think up a reason for a Second Civil War.

We can demonize Russia fine. It's a country known for murdering dissidents, poisoning foreign leaders, organized crime, neo-Nazism, internet viruses, child pornography, & invading its neighbors. If that's not good enough, just have Putin reform the USSR.

Red Re-Dawn????

All these USA invasion stories bug me for their implausibility. I'd actually like to see a film of the USA launching a huge invasion of Europe or something. That would be a more plausible scenario in terms of logistics and military power, if not real world politics.

The USA are the only ones who could pull off an overseas invasion of that size, and their massive airforce and navy ensures that there's not much the Europeans could do to stop them from landing. The land battles would be fairly even.

edited 30th Jul '12 1:05:18 AM by CPFMfan

There's a Larry Bond book called "Cauldron" that deals with a putative war between Europe and America. It is actually rather good, much better than Clancy would have been able to come up with, and the outcome is in doubt until damned near the end of the book.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cauldron-Larry-Bond/dp/0747240493

Not on kindle, which sucks.

Red Dawn doesn't have to be about America: the whole idea behind the movie in the first place was to show a group of teenagers become a la resistance and start kicking ass, see the horrors of war, try to find hope, etc.

You could possibly make it about South Korea, and it would work out pretty well, due to the similar values between us and them these days. The plotline could be that S. Korea ends up making an unpopular move which isolates them from the international community and pisses off most of SE Asia. Furthermore, US troops have been mostly withdrawn due to another war in the Middle East, leading to North Korea (along with Chinese sideline support) invading most of the peninsula successfully.

The story would then focus on a group of S. Korean and American teens (the American teens would be the kids of the few remaining US military troops stationed there) trying to escape the now captured Seoul at first, but then slowly starting to fight back against the DPRK troops.

The best part is that you can actually create an ending to this story. North Korea may have a big military, but they likely won't be able to keep the occupation up for long. Therefore the whole idea of a resistance group whittling them down while at the same time trying to survive their brutal occupation until the UN finally intervenes could possibly fit the plot of a movie, or even a trilogy easily.

The problem with that is that, even if the US doesn't just roflstomp North Korea like they've been waiting to do, the South Korean Military is so much stronger than the North Korean Military that it's not even funny. No La Résistance should be needed.

Seems interesting. I'll check to see if my local bookstore has it.

edited 10th Aug '12 11:19:11 PM by CPFMfan