Movie Review: Tomorrow, When the War Began

Ya, they think they're pretty hardcore.

Based off of a series of young adult novels of the same name, Tomorrow, When the War Began is an Austalian-produced retread of Red Dawn. Same story--foreign invaders (this time a coalition of evil Asians) invade Australia (they want the koalas) and a group of mostly good looking teenagers avoid the initial attack and then begin to wage a war of resistance against the baddies. 

It has good production values, with explosions and largely convincing effects; the producers spent some good coin producing the movie. The actors are unrecognizable Aussie/Kiwi actors and do a serviceable job for the most part. Some are annoying and the movie sadly lets most of 'em make it through to the end. I wanted a higher death rate, that's for sure.

It's an odd movie, as the protagonist is one of the girls and the easiest on the eyes. She turns into a regular she-Rambo, taking the lead of the group, killing bad guys and toting the gun for most of the movie. The guys, meanwhile, are mostly wimps, cowards and are generally useless. The movie has action, but there's also an abundance of relationship/hormonal teen stuff. I suppose the movie is trying to appeal to both male and female teen audiences, but struggles to walk that line and ends up being a fairly ridiculous at times. There's also a fair amount of language in this, so parents may want to keep younger teens from viewing.

However, there are some good scenes, some so-bad-it's funny moments, and the Red Dawn rip-off plot is kind of fun in a nostalgic kind of way. A two-star kind of movie. If you're in the mood for a quasi-cheesy survival movie, I'd probably just  recommend the original Red Dawn, though.