YMMV / Red Dawn (2012)

• Common Knowledge: Due to the change of Chinese invaders being switched to North Korean for a multitude of reasons, the movie is assumed to have the plot of the DPRK taking over the entire United States which gets it trashed as unrealistic and absurd. In actuality they are only providing assistance to the off-screen Chinese holding the west coast and Russian forces holding the east coast by being assigned the Pacific Northwest to occupy. While still an arguably far fetched premise, it does become less jarring once it's clear it's still China and Russia doing the brunt of the work while North Korea is only taking on a relatively smaller slice.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • In the Rifftrax for the original Red Dawn, the characters survey their wrecked town while the commentators say "They replaced our town with Detroit!" Guess where the 2012 remake was filmed?
  • Before it was pushed back, the remake was going to be a Dueling Movie with the film adaptation of Tomorrow, When the War Began, which is essentially Red Dawn IN AUSTRALIA! Two of the Dawn remake's stars, Chris Hemsworth and Isabel Lucas, are Australian themselves.
  • The film opens with Josh Peck's character losing a football game. At least he didn't have to go through a bunch of wacky sitcom hijinx to trade places with a crazy janitor in order to do so.
  • Thor's love interest is Mockingbird. Bring on your Marvel Cinematic Universe jokes!
  • Chris Hemsworth plays the role originated by Patrick Swayze, and in The Avengers, his character Thor is nicknamed "Point Break" based on his resemblance to Swayze in that film.
  • One of the Wolverines, Daryl, makes a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare reference. Before the 2012 remake came out, there was a mission in Modern Warfare 2 that had a Red Dawn (1984) reference. The mission was called Wolverines! and the achievement for that mission was Red Dawn. Also, apparently in this continuity Russian ultranationalists took over control of the country. This is exactly how the Modern Warfare series begins.
  • This was the second film released in 2012 in which Josh Hutcherson co-starred with a Hemsworth brother. If not for the long Troubled Production, one might expect the similarity between the North Koreans' campaign symbol and the flag of Panem to be an intentional sight gag.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Some state one of the reasons they saw it is to see Josh Peck as a badass.
• Spiritual Adaptation: This is the closest we will ever get to a film adaptation of Homefront.
• Tear Jerker: Jed and Matt's father being shot while they are unable to do anything. Jed's death as well

---