Utterly ludicrous over the top hokum but none the worse for that. At least it entertains

Rating: Null/10 (7 August 2011)

Somewhere in the opening credits we are told that RED is based on a graphic novel, and I also notice DC Comics logo in there somewhere. That is the key to it all: keep that well in mind if you decide to see this and you probably won't be disappointed. IMDb bills it as a drama, comedy and a thriller, and I suppose that is more or less a reasonable description, although is in not top-notch drama, laugh-out-loud funny or particularly suspenseful. You do, however, want to know what is going on and why it is going on. RED is entertaining enough, but something of a big-budget pot boiler. Bruce Willis does this sort of hard man act standing on his head and I should imagine Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren and John Malkovich had rather pressing bills to settle because throughout they are slumming it. But what the hell. RED has no pretensions and if it is nothing but way, way over-the-top 23 carat hokum it is none the worse for that. Take it with a couple of pinches of salt, have several cans of lager to hand and resign yourself to passing a couple of very undemanding hours.