In Review: RED

The Gist

Fast-paced movie featuring film veterans as CIA agents troubled out of peaceful retirement. Effective casting, but can grow boring on spots. Special mention to Helen Mirren who effectively portrayed a like-able character.

The Good

• Good casting
• Entertaining dialogue
• Maintains a good balance between action and dialogues

The Bad

• May seem too fast-paced at times
• Has a popcorn movie feel to it
• Has boring formulaic action movie spots

Synopsis

Frank Moses (Willis) is a retired CIA agent willing a normal life. Feeling the sadness of retirement, he stirs a phone-only relationship with a CSR from his pension office, Sarah (Mary Louise-Parker). One night, his house was attacked by hitmen--all of which he has disposed. Fearing for Sarah, he flies all the way to Kansas City to abduct her and reassembles his fellow retirees (Freeman, Malkovich, Mirren) to find out the man behind the plot to kill them all.

Popcorn or No Popcorn?

While beautifully scripted, RED might at some turn feel like your typical popcorn movie. For one, it has lots of guns, then it is based on a comic book, and finally you have Bruce Willis playing lead. Not that guns, action chases, or Willis is bad, but you would kind of wonder if this will appeal to the intellect given those premises.

Luckily, Mirren's inclusion to the cast gives it a sophisticated twist of charm and wit. You would be amazed how gracefully she carries a huge gun, blasting police and CIA agents. Another good inclusion is John Malkovich whose crazy character is enjoyable and well-played throughout the movie. He'll strike a resemblance to, say, Lemony Snicket's Count Olaf only with a pig gun. And, say, he does look like Jim Carey Olaf.

Pacing is liquid, but I wish they didnt use those gimicky pocketbook/postcard screens to transition from one American state to another. It feels uncomfortable and out of line. Perhaps they were referring to Sarah's love of reading romance novels, but to me it feels MySpace.

There are some predictable subplots, too. For instance, Morgan Freeman's escape and then his subsequent death. No to mention other questionable premises like how Freeman's character manages to do what he does while suffering a stage 4 liver cancer? I suppose he should have looked emaciated, too. But all that ignored, the movie is fine, fun, and to an extent, believable.

I give it a passing mark of 3/5.