unapologetic fun, with its share of flaws and lots of charm from its stars

Rating: 7/10 (12 December 2010)

Red is based on a graphic novel by the great comic book author Warren Ellis. To say that his first adaptation to screen isn't like the book very much might be an understatement (I've yet to read it, but it's missing things like, say, the ensemble, and much of the humor). But this isn't always a terrible thing, if the director's intentions are in the right place. For the movie of Red (or RED, with each letter coming out to be some kind of CIA thing), it's meant to be a romp with aging action stars and the gifted actors who are above 50. It says a lot of the faith in a project- and the durability of its players- when the youngin' in the group is Bruce Willis (not counting Mary Louise Parker, who is really just along for the ride). And all of the actors, almost despite the silly nature of the script at times, are game for what's doing in a story of CIA operatives brought back into the game of things.
Frank Moses is living low in a setting not unlike the one Willis was in in the Whole Nine Yard movies. He finds one night, however, that a small militia is at his house at night and opens fire. Why is he targeted? What about other operatives like the in-old-age-home Joe (Morgan Freeman), or the stay-at-home lovely old lady with a big f***ing gun Victoria (Helen Mirren), or the (putting it lightly) paranoid and (putting it exactly) maniac Marvin (Malkovich). And what about this 'average Joe-ette' in Sarah, who is really along for the ride as she's been having innocent conversations as Frank's pension planner? And why is she sticking with him for so long and getting into it as much as she does?
This last question is the only one that really stuck in my craw. Like another spy-on-the-lam-on-the-lover movie this year, Knight and Day with Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, it is questionable to a fault, even with the suspend-disbelief nature of the material, that a woman who doesn't really want much to do with this guy ends up not only getting into the swing of the killing-things but also falling for Frank. This is the weak link in a story that should have a believable relationship at its center, and it doesn't really. I didn't buy the two of them together, even as Willis and Parker weren't giving bad performances... not very good either, but acceptable.
So what else is there? The other actors, for one. Malkovich plays this ex-CIA guy, living in a bunker and still reeling from the every-day-for- 11-years acid trip he took and thinking anyone following him is out to kill him (and helicopters man!), with total dedication and raucous insanity. It's a pleasure to see him at work, and it's one of his most sheerly enjoyable performances, one where he isn't quite coasting but is knowing what has to be done to take the p**s out of the material. Mirren brings some class to the material too and is fine to watch, though she comes in just a wee too late to really make an impact like Malkovich - her firing lots and lots of guns does make for entertaining viewing. And Freeman, also not quite substantial a role, albeit his final scene in the movie is as good as anything he's ever done (by that I mean his best work, a mixture of hilarity and serious pathos).
The action goes at a brisk and cool pace, and there's a bad-ass stand- off between Malkovich and a bunch of thugs in a docking station (sure, not believable, but it's funny, that's what counts here). The director Schwentke does go overboard with the music- it's goofy, TV style- and, again, the main romance doesn't quite click. Everything else is good, solid escapism, with well-choreographed fights such as one between Willis and Karl Urban that has a bit of adrenaline to go a long way, and likable 'serious' actors getting to have some fun.