Trailer Talk: 'Red Dawn' Unabashedly Waves Flag, '80s Nostalgia

The Wolverines are back this November, and darned if it didn’t take them forever to get here.

“Red Dawn,” the remake of the guilty ’80s pleasure, will finally hit theaters in time for Thanksgiving. The film got shelved by the same bankruptcy case that stalled the Bond franchise for several years. Complicating matters more was some last-minute editing which transformed the invading Chinese forces into North Koreans.

Can’t be insulting a rising economic power like China, can we?

The new film is actually loaded with stars, but that wasn’t the case when the project originally began. Chris Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson are now “names” thanks to “Thor” and “The Hunger Games,” respectively.

As for the trailer, it’s clear the minds behind the film have no qualms with waving the American flag or talking about the country’s greatness and fortitude.

Let’s all breathe a collective sigh of relief.

The production values and effects are clearly light years beyond the original, but the source material still endeared itself to the masses in a way many movies can’t. Can the new film replace the ’80s model’s cheese factor with first-rate action and a coherent story? Did the Chinese/North Korean switcheroo impact the narrative? And will previous ’80s themed flops, like “Take Me Home Tonight,” “Hot Tube Time Machine” and “Fright Night,” auger badly for the new “Dawn?”

Most importantly, aren’t studios terrified of making pro-American movies? If this one is a hit, how will Hollywood executives explain it away?

Follow Christian Toto on Twitter @TotoMovies