Did you vacuum in here?

Rating: 7/10 (26 February 2012)

Frank is retired, bored and lonely living off his government pension in a nondescript suburb in an equally nondescript house.
The only joy in Frank's life are his calls to the government pension processing centre when he gets to talk to his case worker Sarah.
Sarah is as bored and lonely as Frank and marks her conversations with the unknown Frank and her spy novels as the only things fun in her life.
When something in Frank's past forces Frank back into his old line of work and puts an unwitting Sarah in the middle of the intrigue, Frank and Sarah begin a journey into Franks past and the people he used to work with....
Even though it has some great self-deprecating performances from the eclectic cast, and it has it's tongue firmly in cheek, 'RED' does become boring at certain times, and the action and fighting seem a little too fluid and slick.
After all, his is supposed to be old school stuff.
Willis as always is on top form here, really winking at the camera and riffing on all the tough guy roles he has ever played. No one could have done a better job. But Malkovich steals the show as the disjointed part of the team, and the film has it's best parts when he is in it.
The rest of the cast are good, but it would have been nice to have seen a little more of them.
Even though they are a little too slick, the set pieces are still great and keep the pace of the film running smoothly.
It's a good film, but it does get a little lethargic in places, much like the cast.