Sometimes you need to let the cast do the work

Rating: 7/10 (3 July 2012)

Sometimes making an entertaining movie is no more complicated than having a good concept, a great cast and then getting out of the way. That's certainly the case with Red, which never tries to be anything more than a series of scenes that say "Look at John Malkovich be funny! Look at Mary-Louise Parker be cute! Look at this cool stunt with Bruce Willis!" No, it's not a particularly elevated form of filmmaking but who gives a damn about that as long as it's fun? Director Robert Schwentke and writers Jon and Erich Hoeber, who adapted their script from the original comic book, keep things nice and simple. In both comedy and action, they set up and stick to a fairly consistent rhythm of set-up and punch line. It may seem uninspired but better that than falling into any of the gaping traps of trying to be too serious, edgy or pretentious in this kind of tale.
Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) is a recently retired CIA operative who's spends his days puttering around his house and tearing up his pension checks so he has an excuse to call his customer service agent, Sarah Ross (Mary-Louise Parker). T heir conversations have turned into pre-date flirting that both of them enjoy. Who knows where it would have led if a team of assassins hadn't tried to murder Frank in his home, sending him on the run and forcing him to abduct Sarah to keep her safe. As Frank tries to figure out who's trying to kill him, he assembles a team of old comrades who are also "Retired - Extremely Dangerous" (John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman and Helen Mirren). Meanwhile, the CIA dispatches an assassin of their own (Karl Urban) to bring Frank down. What slowly unfolds is a conspiracy that reaches to almost the highest levels of government and forces some characters to question their allegiance.
Red is an action-comedy that decides early on it's more about comedy than action and sticks to that through the whole film. From Mary-Louise Parker's frazzled woman who never expected the man of her dreams to tie her up and put duct tape over her mouth, to John Malkovich's paranoid sociopath who was right about the government being out to get him, to Helen Mirren and Brian Cox as starcrossed septuagenarian lovers, things are played for laughs rather than excitement or thrills. On the few occasions when the story gets close to dark moralizing about "black ops" evils, it quickly pulls back into a more prankish attitude. Not that there aren't a few decent dust ups with the shooting and the punching and the exploding of stuff, but this movie is about as serious on spying as Ghostbusters was on the paranormal.
The stars of the show are Parker, Mirren and Malkovich and kudos to Willis and Morgan Freeman for letting others steal the spotlight. Parker is completely adorable, even though she's reduced to a prop for a good bit of the end of the film. Mirren and Malkovich prove once again that when you're as good as they are, acting for the laugh can be just as compelling as the most dramatic of tear-drenched monologues.
Moving at a good clip, the linear plot keeps both the jokes and the action scenes flowing and Willis' presence anchors the tone and keeps it from flying too far in one direction or the other. His use here is a great example of how "movie star stature" can benefit a picture.
Red is a mostly solid, funny and energetic little romp. If you haven't seen it, you should.