RED
The abundance of geezers in action movies has become a bit over saturated, don’t you think? After all, if it isn’t the Expendables blowing shit up the only way Stallone and Arnie can, it’s Kevin Coster popping up in 3 Days To Kill. I’m not judging, after all, I can only imagine that after you’ve done one performance totting guns and leaping from explosions, it’d be hard to go back to dramas. Age shouldn’t confine you to period silliness or Oscar fodder and once in a while, it is nice to see someone as serious as Morgan Freeman pretend to be a super spy agent. Because that silky smoothed voiced bastard could read the phonebook and it sound good…
Which brings us back to fun filled film RED, that defies all logical and is actually an enjoyable romp. Frank, played by the smoothed headed bastard that is Bruce Willis, is an ex-super spy (black ops CIA to be more precise) who is being hunted down by mysterious men who want to kill him. Unfortunately, he has unwillingly roped in Sarah Ross, a customer service advisor who Frank has been flirting with on a regular basis. As the pair become the targets, alongside paranoid Marvin Bloggs, in a cover up plot, they come across fiendish enemies and hilarious friends who want to help Frank to, you know, not be killed. Starring Mary Louise-Park, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren and Karl Urban, RED is a popular movie based on a series of comic books.
Why is it Bad?
Meh. It is not like it is a necessarily terrible movie, it’s just it isn’t as excellent as trailers or posters would have you believe. Not that I could put my finger exactly on what is missing, but one key point of the movie seems to have departed for pastors news and it is sorely lost here. While you wane for more, RED never delivers like all the ingrediants of a chocolate cake that never rises in the oven. You can pick it up, taste it but never be hankering for another slice. RED is good but never great.
Why is it Good?
The charisma of the ensemble. Honestly, on a list of people who should continuously work together are these guys. From Brian Cox to Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman and John Malkovich, Willis’ comprades make up for the rather lacklustre final products. After all, the only thing you need in life is Mirren, a complete goddess, riff one-liners while battering out several bullets at bad guys and smoozing with Brian Cox. All the while, Malkovich is crazy as ever and Freeman is a smoothed voiced bastard, calling most of the shots. Plus Richard Dreyfus! It’s a collection that never starts giving.
RED and its subsequent sequel RED 2, are enjoyable. Enchanting? No, but it is mindless fun that you’ll lap up for nearly two hours and feel satisfied. It’s just, when you leave the experience, you won’t feel like you have devoured everything at all.