What a great story. This movie has the storyline of a big budget movie. Definitely worth watching.

Now, I have to say that the acting was a bit spotty. It wasn't uniformly great, but pretty good nonetheless. Largely, the problem with the acting was bad timing, and I don't think that was the actor's faults. There were scenes where the cinematography was a bit off and editing could have been better. The action scenes were a bit stifled and could have done with better choreography. There was definitely a place for some big action and explosions, but this movie (I'm assuming because of a constrained budget) didn't go that route. But, again, overall a good movie. This is one of those low budget movies that could be really successfully remade into a blockbuster. That said, this movie stands head and shoulders above other low budget movies I've seen.

In short: Worth watching.

This movie was bad all around. The acting was terrible and timing was bad. cinematography timing and quality all bad. Story as it progressed was unbelievable and unrealistic. script was just really, really bad. unsuccessful knockoff of red dawn. This really was one of the worst movies I watched this year but it was all I had. I have seen sci-fi channel movies that were better than this. Watch it if you want but you won't get that time back. I don't even know what else to say about it to take up the remaining ten lines. I guess if you are really bored you could watch it and be entertained by how bad it is. Some people are into that kind of thing...

Low budget films can flop if they start too slow, but this one has some pace. The story was very intelligent, not overly complicated. The plot was simple, believable and no obvious holes. The directing was very good, give Mr. Travis a real budget :). The acting was average to decent, except the wife (Wallander), who's expressions at times left me confused to irritated. Maybe that's what she was going for.

The best part of the movie is the concept and plot. I'm a fan of IT as well as lo-tech, and who doesn't think about what you would do if things went sour. This has it all, and watching it you might learn a few things. It really makes you think.

Not wasted time at all, I was pleasantly surprised and would watch it again if friends ask.

If there was only a way to give zero stars, I would have.

The Blu-Ray DVD arrived yesterday, and my son and I sat down to watch it last night. We'd been anticipating this movie, because the concept behind it (Chinese cyberattack against the US) seemed very interesting, and the trailer was cool(ish).

Horrible acting, abysmal, wandering script, and nonsensical technical explanations of the attack.

We ended up having fun anyway, because we just switched from "let's watch this cool new movie" mode to "let's make fun of this piece of XXXX movie" mode. As something to poke fun at, it has some value. Otherwise, I would have just turned it off.

Let me start by saying I joined IMDb today just to leave this review. I decided to do this after I noticed that 70 something people gave this film a rating of 10. Clearly these people are the cast/crew and their friends. You people have no shame. This movie is terrible, I haven't seen the like since Troll 2. It is amazingly terrible, although it was incredibly hilarious for me to watch, and I may do it again.

The first thing I noticed was that the cinematography was akin to surveillance footage or an old home movie, and it was clear the camera operator had no clue what he/she was doing. I was then rudely interrupted by the blank expressions, and forced dialog between the characters. In one scene the little girl and her aunt are watching the city burn. I believe the intention here was to have the girl cling to her aunt for comfort so you could see the vulnerability of the young girl. What I saw instead was the girl looking very uncomfortable being forcefully pressed against the body of a stranger.

Everything I've mentioned so exists in tons of movies, especially ones about America collapsing. I would have never felt the need to leave this review if it weren't for the most glaringly terrible thing about this movie. The writing. I could sit here and tell about you some hilarious quotes from the movie, but there are so many, and really you should just watch it for yourself.

The plot however, is amazing. It's based on some sort of misplaced paranoia about Chinese electronics. What happens is the Chinese government decides to collect on our "debt" to them, and they do this by shutting down all electronics that have Chinese chips, which the author assumes are in every vehicle or device manufactured since 1976. First let me say this is impossible even if the Chinese were putting back-doors on their chips. Second we don't owe China anything, they own American bonds. It's like owning stock in our country, if we do good their bonds are worth more and they do good. For this and other reasons if they destroyed American consumerism they would destroy themselves.

Another hilarious thing about this story were the wristbands that you are supposed to wear after the "invasion". When you put them on your wrist they instantly know your name, and if you walk 100ft away from your house after 3pm your wrist will "start burning", then somehow you die. I'm assuming they are supposed to be killed by electrocution, but whats up with the "burning" that happens for like 3 min before they die? Why doesn't the bracelet just electrocute them? Probably has to do with the fact that batteries don't have enough amperage to kill someone. They would get shocked, maybe burned, then the thing would shut off because the battery would die. Anyway, how are you supposed to charge those things when you can't take them off. Just sit by the outlet 6hrs a day I guess.

All in all I do actually feel bad for the guy who wrote, directed, and produced this movie, but come on man, you should have never picked up a pen. Also you and your crew are scum for giving this movie a 10. I know even you don't believe it deserves that. Anyway at this point you should be marketing this as an intentionally bad movie or a comedy. You'd probably get this movie more attention if you gave it the rating it deserves.

Spoiler alert. It starts out slow but interesting but then becomes annoying. The father who works for NSA, is laid off, and leaves for the country with wife and daughter. They arrive at a small town all the ATM machines are down. Then planes fall out of the sky, and no TV reception. The POTUS comes on emergency broadcasting and says Chinese have attacked. The father goes berserk and panics, the mother goes berserk, the sister gets raped, and they over act through it all.

Even the guy that's suppose to be in the know, the NSA guy, says things like China is a 5000 year old empire we are a new country. That 5000 years of Chinese people living there have had a multitude of different governments. They didn't do their research.

The acting is not bad except for the two main leads, are over the top.

Rarely do I not see a film through to the end, and I watch a lot. This was awful.

The acting was very bad which is sad as the story line had promise. It was different and potentially possible. It wasn't just one bad actor but pretty much all of them. The only partially decent actors were the daughter and sister but they had small parts.

Can't give it more than 1. I skipped through to the end to see how it ended as I hate not knowing! If you are buying it to watch....save your money. If you have nothing better to do and it's free then maybe with a couple of beers you won't notice!

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.

The good people of the P.R. of C. suddenly decide they've just about had it with the U.S. of A.'s outstanding debt and subsequently pull the proverbial rug from under their feet by activating some secret backdoor that renders all Chinese microprocessor powered machinery useless. America grinds to a halt, the Chinese starve them into submission, chaos ensues. Blah. Blah.

As if the underlying premise wasn't idiotic enough, the acting, the directing and the editing made short work of everything else. Rarely have I ever seen a movie as lame and as pitiful as "Dragon Day".

In a twisted sort of way, I'm actually glad I soldiered on until the end as sure enough the ending was the icing on the cake, with the protagonist once again resorting to an act of unspeakable stupidity involving a (Chinese made, I'll bet) power tool. You HAVE GOT to see it to believe it.

The fact that garbage such as this actually gets funded is in and of itself far more of a threat to America's integrity than anything an enemy could conjure up from the outside.

Dragon Day was a compelling film to watch and kept me riveted to the very end. Although clearly a very low-budget movie, it did not suffer from frequent ills of indie films-- the pacing is very rapid, and the story unfolds quickly, and I admire the filmmakers for boldly taking on such a big topic with such limited means.

The movie deals with Duke Evans, an ex-NSA engineer, who heads to a remote mountain cabin with his family. While there, the USA is attacked in some fashion through a cyberattack that shuts down all modern systems including electricity and water supplies. The film suggests that the attack comes from China because of our failure to pay our debt.

During the film, we see the chaos of this cyberattack as if through a peephole-- only what the main characters see. Although I found myself wishing there were more scenes showing the bigger effects of the disaster, it forced me to stay with the family and experience it as they experienced it.

One of my favorite characters in the film was the Mexican illegal immigrant Alonso. His appearance as a critical part of the story was moving and unexpected.

The ending managed to steer clear of clichés and was a thought-provoking turn into something different. It had my friend who saw it with me talking about it for quite a while.

I'll say right off the bat that I'm spoiled by big budget cinema and I never watch low budget movies. With that said, I thought I'd give this movie a chance as the idea intrigued me. I'm prior military, law enforcement and an early adopter, techie. I'm a fan of "prepper" shows and I've often considered the repercussions natural disasters, cyber terrorism, zombie like viruses, etc., would have on modern day life and the role I'd play as a first responder. I watched about half of this movie and I started to skip ahead but never found a point where I could watch for more than a couple of minutes and so I finally withdrew. My main issue with the movie wasn't the mediocre acting or the bad editing but the obvious technical errors and script.

***spoiler alert*** First off, the movie doesn't explain whether or not the protagonist was an NSA employee or a sub contractor. It appears he is laid off but even before that he has overdue bill notices lying around. Having credit issues is an automatic red flag for someone with a security clearance and would be a reason for termination not a lay off. It should have clearly indicated that he was NSA and that he was laid off (like 90% of SysAdmins in real life earlier this year). This could of led to a downward spiral where we could of seen some emotion.

The next issue I had was the "visit" to his father's cabin. It seemed like a day trip or vacation, but the foreclosure sign suggested otherwise. Maybe there was a thought of selling the property but I didn't get that. Addressing these issues could of lead to some character development, maybe some flashbacks of the protagonist with his father being lectured about the dangers of "technology". The movie pushes too fast to get to "doomsday" and tries to hit on too many topics therein (loss of tech, loss of government, social DE-evolution, etc. It leaves you unattached to the characters and ask more questions than it answers.

I also had an issue with the attack. Planes start crashing, cars shut off mid drive and the electricity goes out. Vehicles that predate computer chips continue to drive. This suggest an EMP. However, after the cars "shut down", the ignition still had power and the starters attempted to send the spark. I'm no expert, but it seems a complete electronic shut down would have been more realistic. Also, the vehicles in the area, would have all suffered the break down simultaneously, not hours after each other. That leads me to the scene where the Sheriff commandeers the old truck. Would he really have taken the time to arrest the protagonist?

Also, why did "the renter" hide in the closet when the family arrived at the house? Was it because he was paying rent to a dead guy? The scene indicated that the Sheriff and his deputy (not "officer" as the actor calls him) were racist implying that the renter was illegal. That scene only served to waste time and further stereotypes.

On to the more technical issues. Even if a cyber terrorist network hacked and completely gained access to "all" cell phone networks, there wouldn't be a splash screen instantaneously displayed. Nor would there be one on a laptop before even booting (I really dislike it when Hollywood pulls stuff like that. Even my 12 year old knew that was fake). And why would the protagonist smash the phones? Simply removing the battery would disable GPS, if they had a signal in the mountains to begin with. Later, instead of using the cell or laptop batteries he wires hundreds of potatoes together in order to "fix" the transistor radio. That was laughable and reminded me of 4th grade science projects from the 70's.

The wristband of death was another unbelievable add on I could of done without. At any rate, I could go on and on. I really wish they would have put more thought into these issues and spent more time in making me care about the characters.

Overall, Hollywood needs to make this movie with about a 50 million budget and a realistic script.

Yeah, I liked this film. I was surprised as the trailer does not represent how much this is a character driven film. It's definitely not like a huge budget movie or anything but saying that I found myself really intrigued by the story line and what was going on. The whole concept is really interesting, how China can take over the US by Cyber Attack and the country folding in on itself. Technically it seemed very accurate. I actually really liked it. And the ending is really very unusual and I wont give it away but it is ironic on many levels and very touching. You should see it for the ending. Hope it never happens but this is just a movie. See it!

OK first off.I Start with the low budget that was used for the film.And i compare it to high budget films.To be honest with everyone When a film keeps me watching it from start to finish for me its a winner.And i think all the cast and crew did a brilliant job.The director directed it well.OF Course there are people that think its far fetched.But I've seen blockbusters more far fetched than this.Also its the first time out for the director.And working on this type of budget he did a great job.Also the lead role in this Ethan Flower made it more believable to me.You leave the film thinking just what if something like this could happen.When i watched this film i was surprised how good it was.And for me at the moment there's to much computer graphics in high budget films and stories bland.So give it a try you may be pleasantly surprised.Just how good it is.

I must say, that i agree with most of, what have already been written.

It's all over decent entertainment. The acting also decent, but as said the wife is to much.

I think that the scenario is realistic. America is pretty much sold out, with nothing to offer but hot air. and it is very realistic that the Chinese will crave what is rightfully theirs.

The movie is doing a great job painting out, how that could be done in one way.

But the rest of the plot, i see as fear propaganda as used in 30's Germany and the 50's in USA against the Sovjet threat. North Korea could not have done this better i'm sure.

It is scaring the people, getting them ready for fight or flight (probably fight - no money i flight...) and it is seeding only violent and aggressive solutions.

We also need intelligent movies that seeds for peaceful and friendly solutions, done the not American way, but with dialog and agreements.

This is a political movie - without the politics. And in that term i don't think it is fair to borrow trillions from a country, so that you can act all big and mighty and then turn against the country you lend from, when you are about to get exposed or expected to pay back. That's how sociopath's or small children do it, so In that way it is a very childish and morally low movie

Watch the movie, get fairly entertained, but DO NOT let yourself get brainwashed into forgetting who made the problem (those who borrowed and spend) and not thinking about peaceful solutions.

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.

Great story!

This was an intense film with a touch of humor to lighten the load. The characters were great to watch and there was more of a focus on the US Gov being the bad guy and fueling the invasion rather than China.

The inclusion of the Mexico story line was also a very topical and touching choice with illegal immigration providing an unexpected twist. The character of Alonso seemed stereotypical initially but this changed and added incredible heart and kindness to the storyline. Interesting that there were no subtitles required.

The main characters Duke and Leslie were troubled and believable and their daughter Emma was a delight - great chemistry with all of them.

The racist neighbor was somehow lovable with his old school quips that were balanced out by the technical jargon of the US Gov's research project (delivered by Duke)and I loved the potato battery power!

This is a family movie and a real thought provoker. Sobering and yet entertaining with hope and triumph waiting in the wings.

Would definitely watch again.

Thought this film was a good idea when I read about it and thought something like this could happen, but wished I hadn't spent my time. That's time I can never get back. It may be a low budget film but it looks cheap and the acting is so bad that acting seriously can't be their day job. I think the child and the horse are probably the best actors in it. One thing I can't believe though is how I managed to sit and watch this tripe. I guess I was hoping it would get better......but it didn't.

I usually look on here first before watching a movie but I didn't with this one, suppose that'll teach me.

GIVE IT A MISS!!!!!!!!!

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 action packed from the get go!!!!!!!!!! A VERY realistic story of what a Cyber Attack would mean to the United States of America. Too REAL!!! The performances were realistic enough to make you feel like it had become a reality. Actor Ethan Flowers did a grand job of acting out a part for the movie. All the other actors did a great job as well. The acting really hit home for Americans taking the American lifestyle for granted. The movie time line kept your mind interested and it was exciting and full of action! Alonso's role was also an interesting twist. This movie not only is action packed, but has guts to mention China! On the cutting edge, the movie is not afraid to show how much American business has been a lap dog to China. This movie will stir you upturn the apple cart!!!! The movie American business men don't want you to see! I give the movie a 9.

After seeing some bad reviews I was expecting a boring movie, but it was totally the opposite. If you are not the type of person that need to see the million dollar effects and the top paid actors to enjoy a movie, you will not regret watching this one. The possible fact of the USA not able to paid their debt and the massive cyber-attack that follows make a very interesting idea. It has a good plot, nice filming and it's great how they manage to make a movie on this complicate subject with a really low budget ($200.000). I would like to see the same movie, same idea, same director, same writer but with a Hollywood budget!

An above-average movie. Some interesting human-dynamics from people under pressure and without too many clichés that abound in this type of genre (Dystopia (family versus a collapsed world)).

At the end of the movie all I could think about was: "I must install a water tank".

Secretly I'm a fan of low-budget movies.Firstly, because sometimes there are surprising things to see in this niche market. Occasionally you'll encounter a rough diamond that would be a real gem if it was better cut.Secondly, the authors usually aren't really concerned about the public opinion and there is no fear to step on someones toes and go against the grain.This is also the case with "Dragon Day".They have ensured that actually most of the moviegoers will avoid this film.First,the American public really won't be happy about the outcome of this film.Usually a movie ends with an epic, grandiose victory where the "We will prevail" and "God Bless America" ​​slogans are chanted ad nauseam.In this film they surrender and they align themselves on the side of the invader.And secondly,the Republic of China won't give this film a standing ovation,as they are portrayed as sneaky intruders,bringing the American society on the merits in a devious way.

With low-budget films there are always some certainties (of course there are exceptions). Usually the performances are pretty pitiful to downright terrible. And the special effects won't blow your socks off. Usually it looks amateurish, with pale camera images and a downright bad timing. There is usually no impressing soundtrack. The only thing that usually keeps a low-budget film afloat, is an intriguing and clever put together storyline, that will keep your attention.Eventually I found this "Dragon Day" fairly successful in that area and I could sit through the whole movie without any problem. Despite the fact that there are here and there some shortcomings.Even the end surprised me.

Duke Evans is an NSA analyst, who is suffering a huge financial burden and eventually fired. Apparently he inherits a country-house somewhere in the mountains (by the way, architecturally it's a nice cottage) from his grandfather and moves with his family to this area. Arriving there, they discover that there is a Mexican renting and maintaining this house for some time. While the police removes this intruder, a plane crashes down in the immediate vicinity. Slowly, everything starts to fail : cars, electricity, water, communications, television broadcasting, ... Turns out there is an invasion performed by China because the U.S. has a trillion debt to this country and don't want to pay it back. China claims the right to occupy the USA. And, this is simply done by use of the millions of chips that are incorporated in electronic devices with "Made in China" on it. Through a back-door, a virus is released in the American society after which everything is thrown back in time 30 years.

Don't expect impressive images of a imploding White House as in "Independence Day" or continuous action as in "White House Down". The special effects are limited to a few ugly plumes of smoke that insinuates a plane-crash. And a panoramic view of an American city in ruins. The emphasis in this movie is placed on the collapse of a society where human values ​​are pushed to the side and the survival instinct comes up, resulting in debauchery and cruelty. "Invasion Day" shows the desperation because of the lack of basic needs such as food and water. Perhaps the idea that an entire continent can be paralyzed, by disabling its electronic network, is a bit excessive. Yet this is not inconceivable since we are depending on that entire network. In this age of hackers,spam,viruses,spy-ware,Stuxnet(a virus designed to sabotage industrial processes from nuclear plants in Iraq, cyber-stalking,DDoS attacks,phis-hing and e-Fraud,such a scenario isn't unlikely.Obviously not on such a large scale, but still disastrous enough.I read on Wikipedia:"The federal government of the United States admits that the power grid is susceptible to cyber-war. In April 2009,according to current and former national security officials,there's reported that China and Russia had infiltrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind computer programs that can be used to disrupt the system.".Seems to me it's not really fiction anymore.

Ethan Flower takes the lead on his behalf. For me, a totally unknown person (like most of the cast) who eventually performs well enough even though he sometimes acts like a dull vegetable. All in all a pleasant and convincing performance.Asa Wallander is something else. She annoyed me from the beginning.Terrible overacting and sometimes downright bizarre reactions (which of course is a bit the fault of the script) like when she gets angry at Duke because he spends not enough time with them and he doesn't do his best to get them out of this situation. Personally,I would have used a sledgehammer on her. The best performances were (for me) Eloy Mendez as the resident Mexican and William Knight as the elderly neighbor Albert Grimes, who really looks forward to killing some communists again.

Despite the interesting story, there were still some implausible facts. There are some passenger planes crashing and Duke has immediately the brilliant idea that it's an invasion. After shattering several cellphones and seeing chips with "Made in China", he immediately concludes that China is responsible.If you are asked to fill a bath with water,and there is no bath, then the decision to just fill one small can is apparently the logical thing to do. I know that potatoes contain electricity. I'm sure that they had "Duracell" potatoes, because they lasted very long. How the bracelets exactly could determine the identity is phenomenal and the way they liquidate persons who commit an offense, is also exceptional.

All in all a pleasant surprise that had some strong content but visual wasn't that overwhelming. Duke however is fortunate that the device he used in the end didn't have any Chinese chips in it.Otherwise, it would be an extremely grave situation for him.

More reviews at http://opinion-as-a-moviefreak.blogspot.be/

I have never given such a low rating before, but this movie had no redeeming factors and it therefore deserved such a dubious distinction.

The acting was complete cardboard with most of the time my wishing the main characters would get killed off since they were so annoying. To add to the distaste, the characters simply weren't believable either.

Add to that an extremely poor plot with more holes than my grandfather's underwear, with a great big dollop of the incredulity bred of a hundred plot points where you yourself could think your way out of it or it simply wasn't feasible, and you honestly have a sincere waste of time.

Read National Intelligence Report January 2019 WORLDWIDE THREAT ASSESSMENT.... CHINA CAN DISRUPT U.S. GRID yes the film is not as high tech as possible When I saw at a Florida Film festival 2013 I knew the threat was real just read the best seller book LIGHTS OUT by Ted Koppel

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.