Dragon Day (2013)

Pretty Good

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Red Dawn (1984, starring Patrick Swayze) was an excellent movie with great acting and plausible plot.Invasion Day (2013, AKA "Dragon Day") is all of that and much more-- a highly realistic and very frightening portrayal of would could very possibly happen in the United States.As of 2351 hours GMT on August 8, 2016 the U.S. National Debt is in excess of $19.4 TRILLION USD. A trillion is 1,000 x billion.In the movie, the U.S. cannot pay China the money it wants and you can guess what happens.The film is not "big budget" and the actors are not recognizable stars but there are great performances and real drama in the movie.Technology plays a central role in the movie. Even experienced survivalists can learn a thing or two from Invasion Day/Dragon Day.

Slow at times and at one time looking like the beginnings of the usual post-apocalyptic re-hash, but came out completely different. The usual American movies can't entertain the possibility that the people will largely roll over and accept occupation. There always has to be the triumphant fight-back.Here, it's a story of surrender and obey, with references to the current US debt debacle. The focus is on one family not yielding, but not being in a position to fight back either, so escape is the only option.Although at the end a spanner is thrown into the occupiers machinery.

This movie is an excellent "What if?" type story that many reviewers apparently don't understand. In Dragon Day, the Chinese sabotage our electronic grid with Chinese-made silicon chips (which we bought by the hundreds of millions) that contain code the Chinese control. So is the movie jingoistic propaganda designed to stir up fear of the yellow horde? NO, NO, NO! In the entire movie, only ONE Chinese military person is even SHOWN, and then for maybe a minute! This movie is about the tremendously vulnerable position America has put itself in by miring itself in debt, while at the same time creating an ever more government-dependent citizenry, and an entire nationwide infrastructure with a serious Achilles heel.I gave this movie a 10 based on what the makers did with what HAD to be a very small budget, and on the fact that they got ALL of the four major issues right: 1. When the grid goes down, many people panic and more than a handful let their baser instincts take over, as we have well seen in real life with Katrina and more recently the EBT card screwups. People "pulling together" happens on a MUCH smaller scale (2-5 friends) than the wolfpacks that inevitably form to prey on them.2. Almost everyone is woefully unprepared for ANY disruption, let alone a major one.3. A depressing number of people, especially women, will eagerly trade their freedom for the "promise" of security, and sell others out to do it.4. The police, and others in positions of authority, may choose their own self-interests over the oath they took before they assumed these positions.There are no Rambo-type heroics in Dragon Day, where the hero utterly vanquishes his tormentors. That is the movie's other greatest strength. The concept of "victory" is quickly reduced to focusing on keeping your family alive and out of reach of those that would enslave you, regardless of how little else you may have left, or the sacrifices you have to make to retain those two things.The ending drives this home. I thought I saw where the director was headed, but I was afraid he was going to pull some unrealistic "feel-good" crap at the last minute.He didn't. This is a great movie.

I actually was enjoying the movie, until I realized that it was a mere regurgitation of the old Yellow Peril xenophobia tripe that rears its ugly head in American cinema from time to time. As an American of Asian descent, I certainly felt as though the finger was being pointed at me for America's economic woes. What did I do?Really? The wicked Chinese want to take over America? Can't you do better than that? I'm glad I did not go to the theater to watch this - I certainly would have left the theater, if only to ensure my safety in a roomful of folks who had just watched a movie that plays up to every villainous, yellow peril, xenophobic stereotype in the book. The one clever thing about the movie was that it achieved this without actually resorting to using an arch-villain Asian character - now that was unusual. Maybe this shows up in the sequel.