First 'Red Dawn' Remake Trailer Arrives

If ever there was a remake for whose appeal America's climate is ripe, it would be "Red Dawn."

It's impossible to say whether this Dan Bradley-directed update of the 1984 invasion-premise war cult classic will become as iconic a portrait of its time as the original. Only time tells that. We only know that we live in times when there's a perpetual watchful eye cast over North Korea, China and Iran for signs of escalating aggression in nations with known U.S. resentment.

Why not wonder once more what would happen if the worst fears proved valid?

The setting and premise remain largely the same. An American city is invaded, overcome and occupied overnight by air-assaulting foreign forces. A town's young people band together and seek shelter in the neighboring forests. There, they train in the wilderness' shelter to take the fight to the invaders, taking up the name of their high-school mascot - the Wolverines.

To be completely fair, this isn't exactly the first time "Red Dawn" has been recently adapted. Director and co-writer of the 1984 original John Milius wrote the story for the 2011 hit first-person shooter console and PC game "Homefront" that nearly identically mirrors "Red Dawn," with a Korean-Chinese invasion force making an updated substitution for the "Red Dawn"-era coalition of Russian, Cuban and Nicaraguan invaders.

"Homefront" fans, note also the game's conspicuous inclusion near the high school battleground of a "Go Wolverines!" billboard.

What will ultimately cement Bradley's remake's status - for better or for worse - will probably be the cast. To a large extent, "Red Dawn" is such a guilty-pleasure cult classic because it's rife with icons of their decade like Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey, C. Thomas Howell, Powers Boothe, Harry Dean Stanton and Lea Thompson. While Bradley is working with worthy talents such as Chris Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Adrianne Palicki, Josh Peck, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Isabel Lucas, there's reason to be skeptical they'll invoke the kind of enduring nostalgia that the titans of the 1980's evoke watching the original 26 years later.

"Red Dawn" hits theaters Nov. 21.