Red Dawn (1984)

Soviets parachute into midwest America and turn the small city of Calumet, CO into a police state. A group of high schoolers, and one recent graduate, speed out of town after raiding one of their father’s convenience stores for supplies. They eventually stop simply hiding and become a guerilla group -- a thorn in the sides of the invaders.

The first ten minutes are simply fantastic. The small-town idyll is set up and then ripped apart in such a way that, although I had an idea of the plot, I felt as shocked as the town must have been. But the movie just goes on and on and on. It is fun to see very young Lea Thompson, Jennifer Grey, Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Powers Boothe, and Charlie Sheen, though Charlie should thank his lucky stars for his father’s reputation because -- oof -- he’s terrible here.

C+