“Retired Extremely Dangerous” is why being a secret agent is a bad idea. If you are good at your job, and you live long enough to retire, you can be sure that some kind of government conspiracy will turn up to eliminate you.
In the case of Frank Moses (Bruce Willis “The Expendables”), a retired CIA agent, knowing too much and being too good at what he did landed him with a big stamp on his file labeling him as “RED.” After dispatching would-be assassins who attacked him in his home, Moses goes on a mission to discover why he’s being targeted, and assembles his old team to help him.
“Red” isn’t the most thought-provoking movie of the year, nor is it the most original. It is however, a fun romp into the action comedy genre. Originally a DC graphic novel of the same name written by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner, the movie features a few campy costumes, older actors that look as though they should be well out of their prime and more than a few action and gun wielding sequences that could never happen in even our wildest dreams. But don’t hold any of that against the movie.
Willis delivers punchy one-liners and dry wit that is up to par with his usual “action hero” roles. Unfortunately, while he is absolutely fantastic as Frank Moses, he doesn’t deliver anything new or exciting to the role. We’ve seen this Bruce Willis in nearly every action movie he’s been cast in, and while it’s fun, it isn’t as exciting as it used to be.
Nothing can quite stand up to the hilarity of John Malkovich (“Jonah Hex”) as Marvin Boggs, a member of Moses’s former team. Not only does he deliver several well-timed one-liners that will keep an audience reeling in laughter, but he proves that both as an actor, and on screen as a retired CIA agent, that he’s still got a lot left to give.
Dame Helen Mirren (“The Tempest”) as Victoria is a joy to watch. Her interactions with other characters feels genuine even when her character turns stone-faced and appears void of emotion. Her humor, like that of most of the characters’, is mostly very dry with sarcasm tastefully woven in, and it both keeps her strangely aloof and oddly engaging.
The only true crime in the entire movie is the distinct lack of Morgan Freeman (“Invictus”), who plays Joe Matheson, another of Moses’ old crew. While he is funny and endearing on screen as always, he is under utilized to a point that is borderline criminal. Even if he has more screen time than he does as Lucius Fox in the Batman movies, at least those movies give him more of a key role. Still, “Red” would be less without his talents.
The action sequences are often a little over the top, which is to be expected of a movie adapted from a DC comic book, but usually don’t do so to the point where the scene is too fake to appreciate. One scene of note, shown in the trailer, is of Willis’s character stepping out of a cop car in slow motion, while the car is spinning after being hit. He practically glides out of the vehicle, and misses being clipped in the calf by the back bumper be less than an inch before firing a gun at his pursuers. While this scene could easily look overly stylized and gaudy, director Robert Schwentke makes it looks smooth and fluid; much more natural. Unlike other graphic novel adaptations in recent years, the entirety of this movie’s cinematography sports a deliciously natural style that almost forces attention away from itself and thrusts it onto the characters, where the audience’s attention belongs.
The breakdown: “Red” is as funny as it is action-based, has good acting and looks more realistic than gaudy. See it in theaters; it’s worth the ticket price.