Not as good as it could have been, but still enjoyable fun.

Rating: 6/10 (23 October 2010)

I haven't been to the cinema much recently as for me there hasn't really be many films out that have caught my attention. The last film I saw at the pictures was the impressive The Town directed by Ben Affleck that I saw in late September. Red I saw in a trailer prior to that and it looked like terrific fun and was a film I was very much looking forward to. The 7.7 IMDb rating on this film in my opinion is a little extravagant and isn't really justified. It's for me hard to avoid the conclusion that the director Robert Schwentke just placed all the fun moments in the trailer for the sake of drawing the audience to the cinema in a way, but it isn't entirely true.
The basic story starts off with ex-CIA agent Frank Mose's chats on the phone to Sarah Ross (Mary-Louise Parker) whom have a thing for each other when Frank is attacked by CIA operatives who attempt to kill him. He hooks up with Sarah and other retired CIA agents along the way, which include Joe Matheson (Morgan Freeman), Victoria (Helen Mirren), Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich) and Ivan Simonov (Brian Cox) to try and find out why their own government wants to kill them. Whilst the CIA appoint operative William Cooper (Karl Urban) to apprehend Frank.
The story is quite basic and the screenplay is functional at best, whilst there are some funny moments, the script isn't witty or sharp enough and that's where the film loses it's edge. There were moments particularly in the first forty minutes where the movie threatens to be dragged down by it's slow pace and mediocre script, but the film does pick up and get better later even if things get a little silly. In terms of the acting, Willis gives an okay performance, but I was a bit disappointed to be honest. He tries to sparkle but he just couldn't and it felt very run of the mill, whilst Malkovich has a few decent comic moments, but Freeman and Mirren hold themselves much better with more spark in their eyes and wittiness in the projection of the dialogue they speak. They sounded like they were enjoying themselves. Karl Urban does solidly well for his more serious supporting role, but the best person in this was Mary Parker as Sarah. She was terrific as a woman living a normal life but coming to grips that the man she like is a CIA agent and becomes immersed in his world. The action was great and smoothly handled and the music was very good. The style as well was handled nicely as to some extent trying to be cool.
Red has been compared to the terrible The Expendables, which is similar in terms of story retired soldiers coming against their own government, but that is where the similarities end. As Red is much better than that trash. Maybe this wasn't as good as it could have been, but it's entertaining enough and is worth seeing. I wouldn't say no to seeing it again, but I would only rent it out on DVD, not see at the pictures or buy it. Saying that it's an enjoyable enough ride and should satisfy anyone's need for harmless entertainment.