Really? REALLY? Well, you liked the original so I guess your perspective is different, but... really? I will say I did dig the last action scene, it reminded me of a Hong Kong action movie that I can't remember the title of. And the end (although they didn't have that wrap-up like in the original flick, but they did want to make this into a franchise). But everything else... ugh, it was just... really?
I mean, okay, the team of kids? There didn't really seem to be any difference between them, they didn't have special skills, they didn't have different perspectives, they were all gun-toting kids followin' orders. There was no great update that made this story worth retelling, sandwich wizards.
Invaded by China: yeah, I can see why some people think that's a big issue, but if you don't have the balls to KEEP that premise, then clearly you don't care about your message. North Korea can't invade DIDDLY.
Now, getting OWNED by China, THAT'S something. Foreign corporate interests with their own PRIVATE armies moving in and America sort of giving in cause they have the money, THAT could be interesting. You could explore some interesting territory there.
But there's NO REASON for China to invade the US. For the Cold War, yeah, Russia was invading a lot of people. I guess I could conceivably see that they'd invade the US as well, but based on pure size, there's NO benefit to taking over the landmass, it's FAR too much to handle, it's a loss leader. It's a money pit of a military operation. What exactly do they hope to gain? That was my big thing: WHAT WAS THE PONT?
And they're shooting themselves in the foot by taking out the POWER. Even before this movie came out it was pretty much general knowledge that we had the most insane surveillance set-up in the world, THAT'S A HUGE THING. If the bad guys invade, they would take control of that first. Take this massive structure we built to protect us and turn it against us, THAT'S a chilling premise, that would have people talking well after they leave the theater, that gives you buzz and opens up a conversation about how we actually protect and police ourselves, what we do in the name of security. And that's what gives a movie staying power. And makes a movie worth being made.
In fact, a Red Dawn type invasion in the 21st Century, you wouldn't even know it happened until it was over. And you would not need to drop soldiers into the streets, they'd go in like Skynet, redirecting resources and so on. The people would be OBLIVIOUS. You could start it as a paranoid cyberpunk thriller and then turn it into a big action movie or something.
That's what really p*ssed me off about this movie, it was f*cking stupid, it was just softball. It had no bite. Of course, if it did, they probably wouldn't have made it. Or they'd have chopped it up. And held onto it for a year.