Rip roaring action great! Amazing cast, hilarious and fun!!

Rating: 8/10 (14 March 2011)

As an enormous Bruce Willis fan I crave for his days of action greatness following some disappointing entries in his career as of late (Surrogates, Perfect Stranger, achingly small role in The Expendables) Red looked like it might bring back the action sarcasm Willis we all know and love. What I didn't expect was how truly great the cast was in its entirety. The story was perfect, the action was well placed and well done and I think Red came so close to being just one of the best action films of the last ten years. Regardless its shortcomings are easily overlooked because of how great and incredibly entertaining the film is. The cast even features a couple of actors who aren't usually on my top ten list who really impressed me but more on that later. The film was based on a graphic novel which I had never heard of but I don't think that matters at all because it made for a good movie. I read some reviews that said Red became too complex which I don't understand at all. I mean action movies are usually blamed for being too shallow and too much action and this film balances everything so incredibly well.
Bruce Willis leads the cast as retired CIA agent Frank Moses (the perfect tough guy name.) Willis does what Willis does best...kill bad guys or anyone trying to kill him. Right from the very first scene we know that he is one talented dude retired or not. He channels the old Willis that commands attention on screen and has some great scenes (the best of which is shown in the trailer jumping out of the police car, firing at bad guys as the car swings around.) Mary-Louise Parker is probably the sore thumb of the team. I don't mean that badly because her and Willis have good chemistry and she does give the film a needed youth boost since she has a good decade between her and Willis although she looks much younger. She is good as the fish out of water customer service rep suddenly in with assassins. John Malkovich is sort of acting royalty but I have never been a huge fan. He's always been just too outside the box for me save for a few roles but in Red he is absolutely amazing. His quirky, funny, twisted Marvin Boggs is a role that fits him like a leather suit. He is absolutely perfect and I know I loved him from the moment he quips 'Get the pig' and proceed to carry around a stuffed pig. Helen Mirren jumps way out of her comfort zone to play a more subtle role but still very well done as a hit-woman with an eye for sniping. Her role isn't quite as brazen as the men but she adds class to the cast. Speaking of class Morgan Freeman is a Hollywood god to me. The man is amazing and I was so glad to see him as part of this cast and he has some good scenes. The unfortunate part is that he is the most underused actor on the cast. Finally Karl Urban does a great job as the young talented CIA Assassin charged with killing the RED team. He is excellent and him and Willis have some great chemistry in their scenes where they battle head to head.
I expected that when I looked at Robert Schwentke's directing filmography that he would have some heavy action greats to his name but he doesn't!! He has some solid films behind him but nothing in true action fame. If you are an action fan but haven't seen Red you are doing yourself an injustice because Red has everything you could possibly want. I love a good action comedy that can pull it off well and Bruce Willis does that better than anyone using sarcasm and wit and just pure bad ass-ness. Red has it all and if they do sequelize it, it probably won't have the same clout as the original but I'm willing to see them all again because of how great they were!! A worthy addition to my collection. 8.5/10