Bruce Willis is the star of the new action comedy “Red,” but the movie belongs to a 60-something Dame with a zest for firepower.
What hath “The Expendables” wrought?
We know Willis can still hang with the likes of Jason Statham, but who figured Helen Mirren could handle a gun with such a wicked grin?
“Red,” the film adaptation of the snarky DC Comics series, follows four ex-CIA agents being hunted by their old bosses. The story is more complicated than it appears, often unnecessarily so, but it’s a fine excuse to watch four aging actors play shoot ‘em up.
Willis plays a lonely retiree named Frank Moses who rips up his pension checks to flirt with Sarah (“Weeds’” Mary-Louise Parker), the woman handling his account.
Frank is dragged back into the spy business when a team led by a determined agent (Karl Urban) fear he knows too much about a mission in Guatemala that went awry.
So Frank enlists some of his old colleagues to help clear his name – and return fire. Marvin (John Malkovich) never met a conspiracy he didn’t believe. Joe (Morgan Freeman) has cancer but won’t shy away from a fight. And when Victoria (Mirren) has your back, you can breathe easily.
Taken together, they’re Retired but Extremely Dangerous (RED). And they’re also comedy cutups. “Red” never takes itself too seriously, a wise stance since the story and character interactions stall at the third grade level. Malkovich is the paranoid closer, the comic foil whose exuberance somehow doesn’t bleed into scenery chewing. That’s talent.
But it’s Mirren’s Victoria who commandeers the movie. The Oscar winner is as beautiful as ever, and when she resists the advances of an old flame (Brian Cox) you know why his face collapses in pain.
Director Robert Schwentke isn’t taking cues from the “Bourne” franchise – or any other shaky-cam affair. He shoots the action with a lucid eye, making sure we can digest the pyrotechnics without lunging for the Tylenol.
The film clocks in under two hours but feels longer, as if the cast couldn’t be coaxed off the set so the screenwriters decided to pen a few more battle scenes to keep them busy. Too bad the Frank/Sarah romance gets the short shrift once the action begins.
The final sequence hints at a sequel, an exhausting thought even if it’s a blast watching fine actors mug up a storm.
Besides, it’ll give Mirren time to reload.
(Photo: Bruce Willis, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren star in “Red,” Summit Entertainment. Photo: Frank Masi)
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Malkovich/Mirren? I’m there. I will take my chances of the dragging ending, it’s got to be better than 90% of the garbage Hollywood has rolled out this year. IOW, the bar has been set mighty low. Plus, Bruce Willis may be giving Joaquin Pheonix type interviews whilst promoting this, but Bruce with a big gun in his hand is always worth the price of a ticket.
There is NO Bruce Willis film that I haven’t enjoyed on one level or another. While I didn’t laugh out loud at this…well maybe I did once…at John Malkovich carrying a stuffed pig…I enjoyed it start to finish. And Helen Mirren! Isn’t she a wonder! The love story theme could have used maybe two more scenes to make the LAST scene work better (to be more emotionally satisfying to this romantic female heart), imho. Otherwise Two Thumbs UP as they say.
This film was great. Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman all turned in great performances and were enjoyable to watch. Brian Cox and Richard Dreyfuss were both excellent, and it was nice to see Mary Louise Parker in a film role where she’s the love interest and yet still comedic. I’ve liked her work for a number of years so I’m glad to see her in a feature film.
Even Karl Urban did a great job. When you go to a film and wonder if you’ll get your monies worth and walk out thinking about the film and not your money then you know it was a good film. Highly recommend!