Red

Welcome to another episode of Lights....Camera....Popcorn!

Today's review is RED. Directed by Robert Schwentke. Written by Jon Hoeber and Erich Hoeber. Based on the graphic novel RED created by Warren Ellis and Cullen Hamner.

100th review countdown....#87

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of action violence and brief strong language.

Runtime: 115 min


Cast

Bruce Willis - Frank Moses

Mary-Louise Parker - Sarah Ross
   
Karl Urban - William Cooper

Rebecca Pidgeon - Cynthia Wilkes

Morgan Freeman - Joe Matheson

Ernest Borgnine - Henry, The Records Keeper

John Malkovich - Marvin Boggs

James Remar - Gabriel Singer

Brian Cox - Ivan Simanov

Helen Mirren - Victoria

Richard Dreyfuss - Alexander Dunning


At first glance, this movie has startling similarities to another film I reviewed this year.

The Losers.

Both films were adapted from graphic novels that present a very parallel plot. An elite team of super soldiers are betrayed by the people who they trusted when they were at the top of their profession. So is there any differences between them. The answer is yes and there are 2 main ones.

1) The cast is FAR SUPERIOR. The Losers gave you names like Jeffery Dean Morgan, Idris Elba, Zoe Saldana and Jason Patrick. Not a bad group of actors but RED gives you Willis, Freeman, Malkovich and Mirren. There's just no contest here. We're talking about 2 Oscar winners and a 2 time Oscar nominee sandwiched around Hollywood's highest grossing action star in HISTORY.

Nuff said.

2) The other reason is simply this. The film is just plain better.

The Losers took a been there done that concept and played their campy style in ways that tried to convince you that everything was straight up. It was just silly. RED takes the same been there done that story and puts a different slant on it but treats the material the way it was meant to. Instead of the tongue in cheek feel of The Losers, RED puts a fist across the cheek.

Frank Moses is a retired black ops agent who's living out his days filled with routine and an insane amount of boredom. That is until an assassination team attempt to take him out one night. Needless to say he dispatches his would be killers and sets out to find out who's after him and why. During his travels he seeks the help of some of his former colleagues and together they uncover the reason for their planned termination.

As expected, there's nothing earth shattering new here to digest. What makes this retreaded plot work so well is the idea of these retired mega warriors are actually retirement age. It was a fresh way to present that type of character instead of going with the 40 something dude that left the "company" due to stress or was burned out.

The story doesn't make fun of itself but it take liberties with real time events. This is something that I usually can't and don't ignore but there was something about this movie that made made me give it a pass. This probably had a lot to do with the cast. This is a real powerhouse group that all lend their unique talents to the narrative.

Willis handles his heroic performance of Moses in a stoic yet menacing way that works very well. Freeman's take on Joe is very slick and poignant. Malkovich as Marvin is just simply perfect. He's always been great at playing the controlled psycho and here he does it with a nice balance of cunning and comedic timing. Finally, Helen Mirren's Victoria was just cool. I mean it's not everyday you see Queen Elizabeth using a sniper's rifle or firing off round after round with a machine gun. Just way too cool.

The only character that I didn't care for was Paker's character Sarah. Her involvement was important to the story but it was hard to figure out her role. Was she supposed to be the bubbly idiot or the girl that ends up at the wrong place at the wrong time but knows what she's doing. There was a little bit of both with her character and neither of them worked.

The plot was pretty believable as well. Well as believable as plot can be for a movie of this sort. The reasons for the attacks on these retired agents and who's pulling the strings are solid. The CIA tricks that are employed to gather information were not too over the top that you can accept it as part of the game and just roll with it. There's also some believability when it comes to what happens to all of the characters. There was a scene involving 1 member of the team that had me thinking they would go one way and went the other. The action also was explosive yet understated enough that it doesn't over power the entire scene.

Bottom line, RED is a simple movie using a very simple plot that never tries to be complex. It knows what it is and just shows you that and that's why it worked. Plus it has Helen Mirren with a gun. I can't get over that.

Just too cool.

On the 5 star scale. RED gets 3 stars with a "Go See It" recommendation.

That's a wrap for today. Up next is Eastwood's latest Hereafter. This one has not been received well by some critics. I'm banking on the reviews I read being wrong. That seems to be the case since I'm always right anyway. =)

Until Next Episode...."I'll Save You A Seat!"

"D"