Just when you thought your grandparents were uncool...

Rating: 6/10 (4 February 2011)

A lot of hype got me somewhat interested in this movie, even though I don't appreciate it, I still figure that most audiences can't be wrong. Now I use the word "most" very loosely because I think that most people see the film in a theater first with an audience and admitingly while in a movie theater you want to have a good time and seeing your friends or family laughing influences you just as easily. But I rented this one because I figured if it's that good, I'm sure I'll enjoy it at home just the same, only not so much with my experience. The film certainly isn't bad, but it isn't that good either, I've seen this plot way too much: normal girl falls for guy and finds out he's a former CIA agent and now her life depends on him, blah blah blah. The thing that could have saved this movie big time was the cast and about 70% of the cast is perfect. I would say that Bruce Willis, John Malovich, Helen Mirren and Brian Cox were perfectly cast, but Morgan Freeman's talent was a waste as he's not really apart of the movie so much so that role could have had a less known actor who needs a break. Also Mary Louise Parker who started off as one of the main characters quickly gets the cut off after we meet the rest of the cast and she looks way too young to be the love interest of Bruce Willis even though he's only 10 years her senior. But why would they loose track of the main character? Because they just didn't know where to go with the story.
Frank Moses, a former CIA agent, is now living a quiet life in retirement. However, he begins to feel lonely and often chats on the phone with Sarah, a customer service agent working for Frank's pension office in Kansas City. His life is disrupted when a hit squad raids his house in the middle of the night. Frank kills the assassins and, knowing they would have tapped his phone, goes to Kansas City to protect Sarah. She becomes Frank's reluctant companion while he tries to find out who is trying to kill him, and track down his old black ops team for help. Frank first goes to find his mentor Joe, who tells him that the hit squad Frank killed were also responsible for the murder of a news reporter. They then track down Marvin Boggs, a paranoid conspiracy theorist, to provide more information. Marvin tells them that the names on the list are all connected to a secret mission in Guatemala. With the help of Russian secret agent Ivan Simanov, Frank and Sarah infiltrate the CIA headquarters to steal the file and find out more of who is setting the old team up and why.
My main thing is that the film relied too much on it's humor. I loved John Malkovich and it's great to see him in a great comeback performance like this one and he pulled in the comic relief, that should have been it. The whole "senior citizen" joke got old really fast as again we've seen it before. Karl Urban's character started off interesting because he's kept a mystery but then we learn about his family and all of a sudden he's a good guy and becomes bland and predictable. I feel bad because the film isn't bad by any means, there are some great moments like John Malkovich thinking that this lady is a spy randomly and seeing how paranoid he is was too funny. Helen Mirren with a machine gun was also very awesome, though she should have done it dressed as Queen Elizabeth, that would have made it more funny. This movie is exactly what I did, a rental, it wasn't anything special but is a good afternoon's movie. It just could have been a lot more.
6/10