"But sometimes things happen."

Rating: 8/10 (20 February 2012)

I like it when an entertaining movie also manages to kick up a little controversy. I'm speaking here of the whole business about Joe (Morgan Freeman) giving it up for the team so Frank (Bruce Willis) and Marvin (John Malkovich) can make their escape. I too have watched that scene a number of times and there's enough ambiguity in it to come up with any number of conclusions. Because Joe and Frank said their good-byes to each other, I'm inclined to believe that Joe is dead, but remember, this is a comic book story. Heck, even Superman died and came back. I think Joe could too with the right kind of writing, I can probably come up with a scenario myself. We'll just have to wait and see.
Anyway, as many times as Bruce Willis does Bruce Willis, he's still cool to watch. I enjoy deadpan humor sprinkled with sarcasm and occasional insight into the human condition. Teaming him up with Freeman, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren was something like, well if not genius, at least semi-smart. They all worked well and played off each other like only competent assassins could. The part of Sarah could probably have been done by any versatile actress, but Parker really did get into the groove once the picture got going.
The Ernie Borgnine double cameo was a bonus too. Going strong at ninety five as I write this makes me want to see him hit the century mark in some film. Has that ever been done before? Maybe if 'Red 2' makes it, he can follow it up in 'Red 3'. No one could ever accuse him of being Retired: Extremely Dangerous.