Released Fri., Oct. 15

By: Mila Pantovich

Photos courtesy of Summit Entertainment

A movie about retired CIA agents may not seem appealing to a younger
generation, but “Red” certainly succeeds in proving any naysayers wrong.
Filled with a high-caliber cast, copious amounts of gunfire, fantastic
action sequences, and perfectly timed jokes, “Red” manages to set itself
apart from any other film at the theater right now, making it the perfect
film to catch with a group of friends.

Frank Moses is a CIA black-ops retiree living a life of calm repetition. He
fills his days with a routine that includes watching after an avocado pit
and finding excuses to call Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker), a telephone operator
who escapes her dull life through reading trashy romance novels. However,
when a group of heavily armed assassins shoots their way into his house,
Frank quickly discovers that he, and all of the agents he worked with, are
targets due to their knowledge of top-secret information. After snatching
Sarah, who was in danger due to her contact with him, Frank begins
reassembling his old team, Joe (Morgan Freeman), Marvin (John Malkovich),
and Victoria (Helen Mirren). Together, the team makes their way to an
exciting climax, with a government cover-up involving the Vice President
(Julian McMahon), which will leave a smile on your face.

It’s incredibly hard to pull off a good action comedy without giving the
audience the overwhelming feeling that you’re trying too hard. Thankfully,
Robert Schwentke has an incredible cast that revel in their characters.
Bruce Willis plays a ruthless killer who is, as Mirren’s character explains,
“gooey on the inside.” It’s a role that Willis has done countless times but
it works because delivering fun action scenes (including a scene in which he
calmly steps out of a car that’s doing a 360 degree spin) is what Willis
does best. While Willis is good, his fellow retired black-ops agents make
the movie truly worth seeing. Playing a cancer patient living in a
retirement home, Morgan Freeman is disappointingly underused but uses his
screen time with a charming and effortless ease. Playing a paranoid
conspiracy theorist, John Malkovich only gets more fascinating and
hypnotizing with age. Even when barely in the frame, he steals nearly every
scene that he is in, reveling in Marvin’s neurosis and entertaining with
merely the raise of an eyebrow. Matching Malkovich for laughs is Helen
Mirren, who is absolutely stunning as the polished and lethal weapon’s
expert, Victoria. Mirren effortlessly proves that, at 65 years old, she is
far sexier behind a high-powered machine gun than any young starlet could
ever be. Also delivering great performances are Mary-Louise Parker, Karl
Urban as the conflicted agent tasked with killing the group, Richard
Dreyfuss, Brian Cox, and an adored appearance by Ernest Borgnine.

While a PG-13 rating is often a detriment to action films, rest assured that
the rating hasn’t dulled the explosive fun one bit. “Red” renders the low
rating unnoticeable by employing excellent action scenes and a plethora of
gunfire. With bodies being blown to bits, Schwentke turned to stylized
sequences without resorting to unnecessary moments of excessive blood. For
fans of the original graphic novel of the same name by Warren Ellis and
Cully Hammer, don’t expect a faithful adaptation. After all, the Frank of
the book would never be called “gooey.” However, as a standalone action
film, “Red” makes the right choice in letting its incredible cast have fun
with their roles, which in turn makes the film a complete joy to watch. With
its predictability and bloated length that drags in the middle, “Red”
doesn’t reinvent the action comedy genre by any means. Nevertheless, by
providing constant laughs and delivering scenes like Malkovich’s attack on a
woman in the airport and Mirren’s command of a rocket launcher, “Red” will
probably be the most fun you’ve had in a movie theater in a while.