Red

For some (like me), the action film is one of the most enjoyable kinds of films around. They include intense fist fights, car chases, guns firing everywhere--you get the point. But for this film, besides Bruce Willis, the usual action stars aren't the typical suspects.This time viewers get to see John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, and Helen Mirren kick some tail; a very entertaining concept especially being that Freeman and Mirren are both over 65. In the D.C. comic book adaption "Red," we follow four retired C.I.A. agents that have been labeled R.E.D. (Retired Extremely Dangerous) that are called back into business when the C.I.A. is told to take them out and you better not even think about calling any of them "old."


"Red" starts off a little slow as we meet the first retired agent, and main character, Frank Moses (Willis). Moses lives a quiet life by himself. Everyday he follows the same, boring routine but what he does enjoy is talking to a customer service agent named Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker) with whom Frank wants to start a relationship. Sure this first 7-10 minutes or so moves slowly but a good film needs to establish a knowledge of the character before jumping into the action which starts right after that 7-10 minutes. Moses' quiet life ends quickly one night when a hit squad attacks his home in the middle of the night. Being the C.I.A. tough guy that Moses is, he easily and brutally takes down this hit squad with ease. Knowing that they traced his phone, Moses sets out to get Sarah in order to keep her safe. To help fight off the C.I.A. and discover why they are after him, Moses must seek out his old team to help him out.


"Red" contains a good mix of different characters with different personalities. The first which we meet is named Joe (Freeman), Moses' old mentor who lives in a retirement home. Think this guy is too old to beat-up on the bad guys? Think again, though Freeman is in his mid-70's, he can still pack a punch. The next man is Marvin (Malkovich) a paranoid ex-agent who despises phones, satellites, and anything in "the system" that he think will turn on humanity. Malkovich's character provides many of the humorous lines and the comedic elements of the film. The last of Moses' allies is Victoria (Mirren) who misses her old life as a wetwork agent and knows how to fire a massive machine gun. Together these four form a very enjoyable team and even though they are all different, they can all kill anyone they want, however they want, which brings us to the main attraction of "Red."


THE ACTION! Ah yes, sometimes that's all a film needs to get the approval of most movie-goers. This isn't the kind of light action with sword-fights and punches that you sit and watch with no big reaction--this is the kind of action where the theater lets out "OOOO's" and "OH MAN's" in unison when Bruce Wills hit a man in the head...with a GRENADE LAUNCHER! And that's not all... we have intense car chases in which the man walks out of a speeding cop car to shoot down his pursuer, we have John Malkovich taking down an RPG missile with a pistol, and so much more that I don't want to spoil.


And then we have the bad guys like Agent Cooper (Karl Urban) and his team of C.I.A. agents, many of which get taken down by the four retirees which greatly resembles classic action film villains: menacing, relentless, and willing to stop at nothing to accomplish his or her goal. Of course with the villains come several twists and turns in the plot line but really, so do most action films. In fact in many ways, "Red" reminds me of the classic action film with it's high octane action, plot twists, menacing villains, and of course Bruce Willis. Having this "classic" feel made the movie very enjoyable for me as it's the "classic" action films that are the most enjoyable.


With the mix of action, characters, and comedy, "Red" succeeds in being a very enjoyable thrill ride but when it's all said and done...the most enjoyable thing about "Red" is watching people like Helen Mirren and Morgan Freeman, people who, most commonly because of their age, no one would expect to be in an action movie, beat up on everyone else. I give it 3 stars out of 4.


"Red" has a running time of 111 minutes and is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action violence and brief strong language.