Great film

Rating: 7/10 (27 November 2013)

Well it was an interesting idea, I'll give them that. Get some older actors together and put them in an action movie that has them kicking ass and taking names against people half their age. It's not everyday that you get to see Bruce Willis teaming up with Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman and John Malkovich to solve a government conspiracy and clear their names in the process.
In this somewhat confusing plot, we see Bruce Willis taking the star role as Frank Moses, a retired CIA agent who spends his days looking forward to his daily phone conversations with his pension administrator Sarah (Mary Louise-Parker). It isn't long until his idyllic life is uprooted when a hit squad is sent to his house with orders to take him out. Apparently Frank is one of many who are on a hit list. Why is Frank on this hit list? It has something to do with a government cover up from the 1980's and apparently Frank is one of the loose ends.
Realizing he's going to need some help if he is to survive, he goes to his former associates. Joe (Morgan Freeman), Marv (John Malkovich) and Victoria (Helen Mirren) join Frank and together, this team of Red (Retired and Extremely Dangerous) CIA operatives try to figure out just what the heck is going on. Along the way, Sarah also gets pulled into the shenanigans and the team sets out to expose the conspiracy at hand.
The story is a bit messy at times and as the film goes on, it seems as if the filmmakers were less concerned with preserving the fluidity and logic of it all and more concerned with keeping the action up to par. The story goes from somewhat acceptable to just plain ridiculous and by the end, rather than trying to remember the details of it all, you'd rather just forget. It's just one big incoherent mess that descends into nonsense rather quickly.
It's not original in the slightest and I'm not going to try and pretend otherwise. Red has a fairly familiar story. In fact, at times it feels all too predictable. What will ultimately draw you into Red isn't the plot, rather it's the chemistry between the actors and the somewhat entertaining action that may leave you mildly pleased as the end credits roll.
All the action is shot pretty well and the humor is mixed in nicely. Director Robert Schwentke pulls off the stylized violence acceptably but it really isn't anything we haven't already seen earlier this year in The Losers or in previous years with Wanted or even Watchmen.
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