RED
Tags: comedy, murder, bleak, violence, flashback, action, humor

Plot synopsis:
Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) lives a very routined life alone in the suburbs of Panama Heights, Ohio. He wakes most mornings before six, makes breakfast, exercises, and retrieves his mail. Christmas is approaching and he decides to follow his neighbors' example of decorating his lawn with a few holiday items. Upon receiving a social security check in the mail, he promptly tears it in half and calls the pension office to speak to his case worker, Sarah Ross (Mary-Louise Parker). She tells him that he will be sent another check but it's clearly evident that Frank simply calls in to be able to speak with her. They get along and chat about mundane things including which books she's reading and how many leaves are growing on Frank's avocado seed. One day, Frank plucks up the courage to say that he'll be in Kansas City the following week, where she lives, and would like to meet her and take her out to dinner. Though nervous about meeting him face to face, Sarah agrees, becoming excited.In the middle of the night, Frank wakes up, dons his robe, and wanders sleepily downstairs. As he turns a corner towards the kitchen, three men wearing SWAT gear follow silently behind him. They watch as he enters the kitchen and closes the door. With the go-ahead, one man kicks the door in but finds the kitchen empty. As they look for him, Frank suddenly appears and takes them all out one by one with silent precision. Noticing more men waiting outside, Frank takes a handful of bullets and puts them in a frying pan with oil and turns on the stove. He goes into the basement and sledgehammers through the floor to a hidden depository where a packed bag, money, weapons and ammunition, and passports are stored. Upstairs, the bullets cook off, giving the impression of a gunfight, and the operatives waiting outside open fire on Frank's house with automatic rifles. They enter the house but Frank's skills enables him to quickly subdue the assassins. He walks away from his home unscathed as his front porch collapses.Sarah returns home from a bad blind date, muttering about the man's not-so-ideal qualities. "Oh really, you live with your mother," she says to herself as she grabs a beer from the fridge and walks into her living space...right past Frank who is standing in her hallway. He tentatively waves at her and smiles but she begins throwing things at him and demands that he leave. He tries to calmly tell her, with no success, that someone is trying to kill him and that they will have been listening in on his calls, thereby knowing who Sarah is and where she lives. As if on cue, a black van full of operatives arrives outside Sarah's apartment. Frank apologizes to Sarah and takes her with him just before the assassins break into her apartment. As he drives, Frank tries to smooth things over with Sarah who is tied and gagged with duct tape in the back seat. She mumbles behind the tape and gives Frank looks of disgust.At Frank's home, a man (Karl Urban) dressed in a clean, black suit goes through Frank's trash while a special clean up crew goes through the rest of the house. The man finds the torn checks from social security along with other leads.They drive through the early hours of the morning to a hotel in New Orleans. Frank leaves Sarah tied to the bed, apologizes once more, comments on her beautiful eyes, and leaves, telling her he'll be right back. He goes to meet one of his oldest friends, a fellow retiree living in Green Spring Rest Home. Joe Matheson (Morgan Freeman), dressed in a red jumpsuit, innocently enough asks a young nurse (Jaqueline Fleming) to fix the television reception for him but fixes his attention on her rear end as she bends over. Frank enters the room and greets Joe, telling him in private about his assassination attempt. He asks for Joe's help and Joe agrees to do what he can. He's bored, 80 years old and has stage 4 liver cancer. He reminisces about all the things they've been through and admits he never thought about getting old and the perils involved with it. Before Frank leaves, Joe reveals that the same hit squad was apparently responsible for the death of a young New York Times reporter.Meanwhile, Sarah has managed to escape from her bonds by slamming the headboard of the bed against the wall. She calls 911 and is soon met by police and an ambulance. The paramedics dismiss her and she is led away by an officer who tells her that she will be questioned and brought into protective custody. When she asks to retrieve her purse from the hotel room, the officer grabs her forcefully and begins to inject her with a drug. However, the officer is swiftly killed by Frank, having just arrived. He commandeers the police car and drives away with Sarah as he admits that he was in the CIA for a number of years. Sarah doesn't believe him before she begins to slip into a drugged stupor. Their car is soon intersected by a black van driven by the same man seen in Frank's home. An assassin working for the CIA, William Cooper is a force to be reckoned with, but severely underestimates Frank's ingenuity. Frank calls for backup and labels Cooper as the suspect responsible for an officer's death. As Frank escapes the city with Sarah, Cooper is surrounded by police.Frank and Sarah drive to New York City to follow up on the reporter's death. Sarah becomes more trusting of Frank and accepts that he is ex-CIA. They find the reporter's mother living in Chinatown and Sarah asks to speak with her to gain her trust. Mrs. Chan (Emily Kuroda) tells them that her daughter had been found murdered of an apparent robbery gone bad, but nothing was taken from her apartment. She shows a postcard sent from her daughter the day she was killed. On it, Frank reads a series of numbers that no one had been able to previously decode. Frank asks where Chan's daughter went to college and follows that lead to the school's library stacks. He reveals to Sarah that the numbers on the postcard were actually a book's ISB number. It takes them to a certain section of the library where Sarah finds the book containing a piece of paper with a list of names on it. As they check the names, Frank realizes that most of the people on the list have been recently killed.Joe sits quietly in his room and is approached from behind by an assailant (Lawrence Turner). Joe asks if 'this is how it's going to be'. Frank attempts to contact Joe but his persistence is finally greeted with the saddened voice of nurse Mary (Justine Wachsberger) as she stands outside the retirement home near an ambulance. Deflated by the news, Frank tells Sarah that there is yet another person who can help them.Cooper, meanwhile, goes to the records room of the CIA where the records keeper, Henry (Ernest Borgnine), provides some background on Frank. A retired black-ops agent, Frank served under the CIA within multiple facets and is an expert in practically every known division of weaponry and combat. Labeled 'Red' (Retired, Extremely Dangerous) after his retirement, Frank is a top ex-agent. However, it's clear that Cooper is also a precision-based man. As an assassin working for the CIA, he has access to top secret information and is a skilled man in his profession. During one interval he is seen in the home of one of his targets (Chris Owens), placing hair and other bits of evidence around the house to make the target's death seem like a suicide while he casually speaks on the phone with his wife (Michelle Nolden), promising to bring milk home at the end of the day.Frank and Sarah drive to Pensacola, Florida and steal a boat to travel to a dilapidated house on the waterfront. Frank advises Sarah to stay close and not make any sudden moves. They are then accosted by a wild looking man dressed in camouflage and armed with a crossbow. Frank tells his old peer, Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich), that he's not there to kill him despite Marvin's belief otherwise. Satisfied, Marvin takes them into his home...a beat up car out back with a secret stairwell descending from inside the hood of the car; he explains that the house is a decoy. When questioned by Sarah about Marvin's paranoid behaviors, Frank tells her that Marvin suspected correctly that he was part of a mind control program when serving the CIA. He was given daily doses of LSD for eleven years. Frank briefs Marvin on his assassination attempt and their findings, showing him the list of names. Marvin recognizes most of the names as people who were involved in a mission in 1981 in Guatemala, a mission that Marvin and Frank were also a part of. Marvin recalls the clean up they had to do in a village there after most of the inhabitants were massacred and theorizes that all the people involved are now being silenced.However, one person on the list remains alive. Gabriel Singer (James Remar) now works at an airport in the cargo bay and Marvin agrees to accompany Frank and Sarah to question him. Marvin becomes excited and exclaims that he's 'going to get the Pig!'. They arrive at the airport together, Marvin holding a stuffed, pink pig beneath his arm, and enter the terminal only to see Marvin grab a hold of a woman in a business suit and threaten her. He tells the bewildered Frank that the woman was following them and is 'one of them'. Frank empties the woman's purse and finds no such evidence that she's corrupt before ordering Marvin to let her go. They continue to the cargo hold where they find Singer and inquire about the Guatemala mission. Under pressure, Singer takes them to the privacy of a traffic control tower and tells them that the purpose of their mission was to extract a person of interest from the village and erase all evidence of his involvement there. Before he can say anything else, Marvin notices a helicopter with a particular identification number on the side; the same helicopter he'd seen outside his house. Frank passes this off as a part of Marvin's paranoia until the helicopter opens fire with an on-board machine gun, killing Singer and destroying the tower.The trio manages to escape and takes refuge among large containers bound for shipment. They are attacked by multiple assassins, & Marvin gives Frank his Pig which turns out to house a folded grenade launcher. The woman Marvin accosted earlier takes aim with a rocket launcher and Marvin takes his revenge, accurately firing a bullet into the oncoming rocket causing a premature explosion. They continue to fight their way out of the terminal before Cooper and his men can kill them. Frank determines that they need more information and must infiltrate the CIA itself to obtain it. Marvin slanders this as a suicide mission but Frank knows where to go to get some help. This news doesn't improve Marvin's morale.They drive to the Russian Federation Headquarters which Frank enters alone. He is escorted to a large room where he meets Ivan Simanov (Brian Cox), an old secret agent whose cousin Frank had once killed. They share some vodka and Frank reveals, to Ivan's amusement, that his cousin is still alive, owns a string of 7-11's, and weighs 500 pounds. Ivan laments that he is bored and hasn't killed anyone in years. He agrees to help Frank and gives him the necessary tools to infiltrate the CIA in Langley on condition that Frank perform a favor for him upon success. Frank and Sarah enter the CIA with their fake IDs and are nearly caught when Frank's contact lense (with false optics for an eye scanner) falls out. They find their way down to the records room where Henry recognizes Frank and eagerly gives him the file on Guatemala. He tells Frank that Cooper was down in the room looking for information on him the other day. Frank sends Sarah off to wait for him while he goes to confront Cooper in his office. The two fight fiercely, both getting injured in the process. Frank asserts that he is far better skilled than Cooper and that he won't back down easily before escaping, but not before getting shot. He reunites with Sarah and they set up a booby trap in a chemical closet to explode, using the distraction to start a fire alarm and slip out with the evacuating crowd. Frank steals a fireman's helmet and jacket to escape and he and Sarah return to Marvin who has taken an ambulance.Inside, they find Joe, alive and well and eager to join the team. Joe reveals that he faked his death after an assassin arrived at the retirement home to kill him. However, the assassin was caught off guard by Joe's preparedness; Joe killed him with a hidden gun and silencer.Meanwhile, Cooper recuperates in his office from his scuffle with Frank. His superior, Cynthia Wilkes of the CIA (Rebecca Pidgeon) berates him for having had his ass handed to him by a retiree.The team drives to the home of Victoria (Helen Mirren), a fellow wetwork retiree. Frank enters the home alone and finds her assembling flowers in her living room. She greets Frank as an old friend and immediately takes note of his wounds. She agrees to help him, given that Marvin will stand down 'before he hurts himself'; we see that he is right outside her window, hidden in a bush and aiming a rifle at her. As she stitches Frank up, she admits that she too misses the old life and even takes the odd job on the side every once in a while. She is thrilled to meet Sarah and, with the others, goes over all the information they've found up until that point.After a review, the team figures out that there is one man included on the deceased reporter's list but was not in the Guatemala file taken from the CIA records department. Alexander Dunning (Richard Dreyfuss) lives secluded in his large mansion and invites Joe inside, disguised as an African dictator in needs of weaponry, escorted by Marvin and Frank as his bodyguards. Dunning, under audio surveillance by the FBI due to his history of arms merchandising, activates a prerecorded speech about his services before leading them into a sound-proof study. Sarah and Victoria wait outside, hidden in the woods and keeping watch with a sniper rifle. Victoria tells Sarah that she's never seen Frank so happy and, if Sarah breaks his heart, she will kill her and hide her body in the woods. Victoria tells Sarah that she was in love once with a fellow agent but that their relationship wasn't 'sanctioned'. When Victoria's loyalty was brought into question, she was ordered to kill her lover...so she put three bullets into his chest.Frank, Joe, and Marvin reveal themselves to Dunning and secure him in one of his chairs. Dunning reveals, under threat of torture, that the person extracted out of the village in Guatemala was none other than Vice President Robert Stanton (Julian McMahon) who had been a lieutenant at the time. Apparently, he had suffered a breakdown and went AWOL, killing everyone in the village. Now that he's running for president, he's ordered hits on everyone who was involved in cleaning up his mess in order to tie up loose ends, using the CIA as his personal hit squad. At that moment, the recording in the house begins to skip and the surveillance team outside sends the order to surround the house. Victoria relays this message via radio to Frank. He realizes that there's no clean way out of the house and Joe proposes a plan, one that will sacrifice himself but ensure the escape of the others. Cooper, following his own leads, arrives on scene and calls in to negotiate the peaceful surrender of Frank, who responds that he is simply uncovering a scandal involving the coverup of the vice president's treachery. This news shakes Cooper's faith in his mission, but he remains firm in his demands. Frank agrees to come out while Cooper orders his men to hold their fire.Frank walks out into view in a trench coat and hat. No sooner does he cross the threshold of the home, he is shot down by an unseen sniper. Cooper run to the body, followed closely by Victoria's sights, and discovers that 'Frank' is really Joe in disguise. Victoria then fires on Cooper, intentionally missing, giving enough time to Frank and Marvin to escape out a side door and into the woods. However, Sarah trips on an incline and Victoria is forced to leave her behind to be captured.Frank resolves to save Sarah and calls Cooper directly to tell him that they all must protect the things they love. Cooper orders a trace on the call and is horrified to find out that Frank is calling from his own home, watching his wife and children (Jake Goodman and Tess Goodman) play outside. Frank tells him that he will rip his family from him and then kill him if anything happens to Sarah. Cooper promises to keep her safe. Frank confesses his plan to kill the vice president for his past misdeeds and for ordering the hits on them before hanging up. A squad is rushed to Cooper's house and, when he arrives, finds them perfectly safe. On a table inside, he sees that Frank left him the Guatemala file and the CIA ID he'd previously stolen from Cooper.The team regroup and Ivan joins the fray. He relates the turmoils of love to Frank and reveals that the love of his life shot him three times in the chest to save them both; that when he woke up alive, he knew she still loved him. They formulate a plan to get Sarah back and to expose the vice president for what he did. The go to Chicago where he is hosting a fundraiser. It's a black tie event and security is high but the team manages to gain access with minimal effort. Victoria attends the gala in an elegant gown while Marvin sneaks in as a waiter. Stanton arrives and addresses the attendees with thanks and the formal announcement that he is to run for president, asking them to give him their monetary consideration for his campaign. The music plays and people begin to dance. Ivan approaches Victoria and invites her to dance with him as he confesses his love for her. Victoria plays it off, trying to keep cool and, as the dance ends, hands Ivan a spray canister from her purse. Ivan walks away, spraying the smelly contents of the canister throughout the room.Victoria leaves the ballroom and uses her heavy necklace to chain the twin doors shut behind her from the outside. At that moment, Ivan begins shouting that he smells gas, causing a panic and the evacuation of the VP. With the main doors locked (courtesy of Victoria) the secret service is forced to move Stanton through an alternate exit into the parking garage. They load Stanton into a limo but come quickly under machine gun fire by Victoria and Marvin. When they attempt to load Stanton into a backup limo, Ivan emerges from an elevator on cue and detonates a bomb, destroying the second limo. Cooper, meanwhile, catches up to the secret service and cuts through the gunfire towards the machine gun. He finds the station empty; the gun is being fired automatically by a leverage system. He pulls the cord, allowing the secret service to move Stanton back inside through another ext. They run through the kitchens but are confronted by Victoria and Marvin once again, who continue to fire at them. The secret service return fire and Victoria is wounded in the hip. She and Marvin try to escape but, in pain, Victoria is unable to move fast enough and she insists that he move on by himself. She runs to the end of the kitchen where the exit is blocked off by a grate. Unable to open it, she backs into it and prepares herself for her fate as the secret service agents draw closer. Ivan appears behind her and opens the gate before taking her in his arms and carrying her away. She tells him she loves him.Meanwhile, Stanton is escorted out of the building and into another limo. Cooper chases after them and demands that the limo stop, but Stanton orders the driver to keep driving. The driver is actually Frank. He turns around and tasers his passengers, leaving the secret service agents on the side of the road and taking Stanton hostage. He contacts Cooper and arranges a trade: Stanton for Sarah.At the designated spot the next day, Cooper arrives with Cynthia and Sarah as Frank brings Stanton. However, to everyone's surprise, Dunning arrives as well and explains that he is actually the mastermind behind all the hits and has been working closely with the CIA and Cynthia to ensure that gets done; he's been using Cooper and the CIA to kill all the loose ends while Stanton is simply a pawn. Stanton, tired of everything, expresses his contempt only to be shot down by Dunning who intends to place the blame of the VP's death on Frank. He orders Cooper to handcuff Frank but Cooper, in an act of faith, does so and places the key in Frank's hand. He then faces Cynthia and shoots her down as Frank strolls towards Dunning and crushes his windpipe. Dunning's bodyguards, before they have time to react, are gunned down by the hiding Victoria, Ivan, and Marvin. Cooper, realizing the scale of the scandal, agrees to take care of the mess and promises to let Frank go. He and Frank shake hands. Marvin satisfies his paranoid tendencies by shooting Dunning in the head. He then asks if they want to get some pancakes.Driving out together, Ivan reminds Frank that he owes him a favor; a minor, nuclear thing in Moldova. Sarah asks if they can go and Frank agrees before kissing her.The final scene shows Frank wheeling Marvin, dressed as a woman and with a stolen nuclear warhead in his lap, in a wheelbarrow somewhere in the fields of Moldova being chased by the Moldovan army. Marvin asks Frank why his girlfriend couldn't be the one to wear the dress as mortars explode around them.

Review: just look at that cast: Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, Brian Cox, Hellen Mirren, Richard Dreyfuss, even Ernest Borgnine!
The lines were funny and somewhat complex and all the people on the set were clearly having fun doing what they loved.Bottom line: I don't know, maybe because the director is unseasoned in the ways of Hollywood the movie turned out to be so good.
At the receiving end of the Central Intelligence Agency's scope are a band of former operatives including the "kid" of the group, Frank Moses (Bruce Willis), the ailing Joe Matheson (Morgan Freeman), the brain-fried eccentric, Marvin Boggs (John Malcovich) and the sultry heartbreaker, Victoria (Helen Mirren).
Red manages to balance the line between action thriller, and light comedy, and does it quite well.Frank Moses(Bruce Willis) a former C.I.A. agent is now retired, and living a simply, and at times boring life.
Bruce Willis, Mary Louise Parker, Helen Mirren, Karl Urban, Richard Dreyfuss, Brian Cox, and Morgan Freeman.
The humour is hilarious, mostly a subtle humour that is apparent throughout the entire film, in nearly every scene.Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Brian Cox, and Karl Urban all excel, as would be expected.
I should qualify that I'm a big fan of Bruce Willis especially when he plays this kind of character - a tough guy with a wry sense of humour.Really interesting mix of genres here - think action/comedy/romance rolled up into one.
Just enough romance without being sappy, heaps of action to keep it exciting and the occasional comedy touches which had the whole audience laughing out loud.It's not going to win any Oscars but don't take it too seriously and you'll be taken along for a pretty enjoyable ride.Worth a watch - great date movie - possibly one to wait for DVD for....
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.
To start it has a star-studded cast, Bruce Willis (Die Hard, Pulp Fiction), Morgan Freeman (The Shawshank Redemption, Se7en), John Malkovich (Dangerous Liaisons, Burn After Reading), Helen Mirren (The Queen, Excalibur) and Karl Urban (Star Trek, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers).
He gets to a few of them like Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, and John Malkovich and he even gets a Russian consultant in former KGB agent Brian Cox. When they're not reminiscing about old times, Cox does help point them in the right direction.
Sorry, I got a bit excited that the actor human being John Malkovich was in this movie, and delivered yet another scene-stealing performance as retired ops Marvin Boggs.
Other great supporting turns came in the way of Brian Cox playing Russian inside man Ivan Simanov, Karl Urban as CIA Agent William Cooper, and the lovely Mary-Louise Parker as Moses' romantic interest Sarah Ross.
Five seconds would go by, and oh there it is, just a bland soundtrack trying to force the movie into an action or just terrible comedic scene.If you like corny, not funny, and downright dumb films, then RED is for you.
Meanwhile, the efficient CIA agent William Cooper (Karl Urban) is assigned by his boss Cynthia Wilkes (Rebecca Pidgeon) to chase Frank."Red" is a highly entertaining and hilarious action movie.
My family and I laughed a lot with the group of retired extremely dangerous agents, but John Malkovich steals the film with his paranoid character that sees conspiracy everywhere and most of the time is right.
Then some thumb-sucker came along and tagged him RED: Retired, Extremely Dangerous.¨ Robert Schwentke (The Time Traveler's Wife, and Flightplan) had the privilege of directing a talented cast including Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, Brian Cox, Karl Urban, and Richard Dreyfuss.
With a better plot, Red would have been a great and memorable movie.Bruce Willis is Frank Moses, a former CIA agent who is now retired and having a difficult time making the transition.
Frank will need some help in order to discover who is after him so he decides to get his old CIA team back together: Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich), Victoria (Helen Mirren), and Joe Matheson (Morgan Freeman).
Malkovich is by far the funniest one in the film; I've seen Willis in better roles; Freeman doesn't add anything to the story; Urban being one of the younger actors proved he has what it takes to stand next to these A-list actors; Louise-Parker was pretty funny in this movie, but she is way better in Weeds; and Helen Mirren always brings her A game to the table.
It stars Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Karl Urban, Richard Dreyfuss, Brian Cox & Ernest Borgnine.
The explosions and kills etc are well put together and keep the action fans happy, while the comedy theme of age (these lot certainly aren't too old for this crap), as Bruce and co kick butt, is sure to keep the smile on Mam & Dad's face.A super charismatic cast (some nice cameos too) deliver a movie, which given its familiar plot and aged thematics, is a surprisingly refreshing option at the multiplex.
Led by Frank (Bruce Willis) the team marked RED (Retired Extremely Dangerous) reorganizes to embark on one last mission.It's interesting that all of the stars have at one point played an assassin in their acting career; Helen Mirren – Shadow Boxer, Bruce Willis – The Jackal, Morgan Freeman – Wanted and The Contract, John Malkovich – In the Line of Fire.
The lineup features Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren and Brian Cox. And the black affiliate must die first, "because that's how he would have wanted it." So once more poor Morgan Freeman is squandered.Besides his old buddies, Bruce takes along Mary-Louise Parker, a telephone operator at the agency that manages his pension.
But the action is a flaccid miscellany of slo-mo and CGI, and save for Malkovich, who's intermittently useful as a madcap LSD martyr, the comedy comprises cheesy, ineffectual backbiting rather than incisive remarks about age or espionage.I think middle-aged and older folks are supposed to enjoy this abject nonsense, because it's ceaselessly trying to manipulate us with music and contrived revelation how clever it thinks its retired characters are, and that they've "still got it," but the joke is on this movie because it's just as inexhaustibly stupid and utterly routine as any number of Michael Bay, John Cena or Vin Diesel vehicles those little shavers guzzle down.
Leading the gang of ex special ops personnel is Bruce Willis which might suggest an alternative title of "Die Hard With A Pension".Other members of the old - in both senses of the word - team are gravelly Morgan Freeman, manic Johm Malkovich and cool Helen Mirren (great to see the one-time Queen with huge weaponry).
The only young actors - and they are in their 40s - are Mary-Louise Parker and less well known Karl Urban.So this is not a movie for the usual teenage demographic of much Hollywood fare but more a pitch to attract the middle-aged viewer who will enjoy familiar faces combined with action and humour but wonder where the plot went..
The special effects throughout the movie are on par with summer blockbusters.Morgan Freeman, Bruce Willis, Hellen Mirren, and John Malkovich are just a few of the actors that make up the experienced, recognizable cast of characters, all of which play a distinct and useful role in the movie.
On its surface, RED bristles with intense "Die Hard" style action interlaced with witty humor that everyone can appreciate.The characters played by Morgan Freeman, Mary-Louise Parker, and Karl Urban give the movie a deeper meaning and sense of drama and romance.
I still try to wrap my head around the fact that a director (Robert Schwentke) who has great actors like Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren and a sufficient budget at his disposal is able to produce such an utterly crap..Pardon my french!!
Morgan Freeman plays his usual likable character, Helen Mirren looks hot and it was great seeing Ernest Borgnine still working.I would love to see the gag reel for this because Malkovich is crazy and I bet he had everyone cracking up.I hate sequels/prequels, re-boots and re-imaginings but amazingly I would love to see a sequel, perhaps the adventure in Moldova alluded to at the end.
I'd stop just short of calling it a failure, but the most incredible thing about "Red" is that such a lackluster script attracted such high-profile talent.The cast, including Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, and Mary Louis-Parker, along with Karl Urban, Brian Cox and Richard Dreyfuss, speaks for itself.
Filled with supposedly clever comedy clichés, it only produces a couple of laughs during the entire film.The only saving grace are the performances, with Karl Urban being the best, closely followed by Morgan Freeman and Mary-Louise Parker, and with Bruce Willis being in his element with a solid but predictable performance.
The movie has a good, easy to follow story, loads of action, humor, and a tad bit of romance.Bruce Willis was the selling point for me to see this film originally but John Malkovich was great.
Robert Schwentke ("Flightplan," "The Time Traveler's Wife") takes the style of the film in various directions from goofy action comedy to more serious revenge thriller, but the key is that he never crosses the line into eye-rolling territory; no one walks away from an explosion his film.Bruce Willis stars as retired CIA operative Frank Moses, whose existence has been reduced to phone conversations with the woman that sends him his government check (Mary-Louise Parker).
The gist is that Frank's been deemed "Retired, Extremely Dangerous" because he's still got some juice left in the tank and the government — as per usual these days — has some dirty laundry to which Frank is connected.The mess leads Frank to attempt to break into Langley and eventually try and kill the vice president of the United States — which should give you a sense that much of the film is "old(er) guys kicking ass." Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren all join the fray as retired-but-deadly compadres when Frank enlists their help.They're a likable group; even for those with a smaller Malkovich threshold will enjoy him playing the insane, paranoid character and Freeman and Mirren flaunt their usual charms.
It's part of the dual nature of "RED;" sometimes its focused on comedy and amusing action and other times more serious action coupled with dramatic performance.As for the "young-uns," Parker, famous for her starring role on Showtime's "Weeds," manages to bring a unique flavor to the role of "clueless female lead stuck in the vortex of bullets and explosions against her will initially but not later in the film." Karl Urban ("Star Trek") plays the usually not-so-distinguished role of CIA agent hunting the REDs down, except he actually has a multi-dimensional story line.
Recently, I got out to see the new madcap, action/comedy Red, based on the graphic novel by Warren Ellis, and Cully Hammer.My advice: Don't go in expecting the greatest movie ever, but do expect to have a great time.In the film Bruce Willis plays Frank Moses, a man who is RED (Retired and Extremely Dangerous).
He seeks help from old, and equally dangerous friends such as Cancer-stricken, but intelligent Joe Matheson (Played by the legendary Morgan Freeman), excessively paranoid stealth-man Marvin Boggs (Played by John Malkovich), and caring, but fiery assassin Victoria (Played by Helen Mirren).This film really is, in every way, a mindlessly fun popcorn flick, filled to the brim with laughs, and reckless action sequences, kind of in the same category as Roland Emmerich's Independence Day, minus the aliens, and on a considerably smaller scale.
The movie may present a bit of elements that has been seen in a number of films, but its stylistic approach, and clever wit is what makes it better than most of those.Aside from a great cast I've mentioned earlier, it also includes appearances by other legends like Ernest Borgnine, Brian Cox, and Richard Dreyfuss.
I honestly cannot remember doing that in a theater in a VERY long time.Bravo to everyone involved..Could a film staring Willis and freeman as assassins with explosions be the feel good movie of the year?
It has an star-studded cast (Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, Brian Cox...), the old-fashioned action and, crucially, that twinkle in the eye that shows how much fun they are having and invites you along for the ride.As if that weren't enough, it might get Warren Ellis (on whose graphic novel the film is based) enough industry cred to get a Transmetropolitan movie going.
Same is true for westerns or for science-fiction movies, BTW.Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman are all among the good and lucky one.
One could comment that only Willis is within his usual casting limits, while actors like Malkovich, Mirren, Freeman, or Dreyfuss could do more interesting things and certainly no Oscar was waiting for them behind the corner for the roles in RED, but, hey, this is entertainment, this is an action comedy, one of the genres Hollywood knows how to do well, the guys and the gal are having fun doing it, so get your popcorn and have some fun yourselves watching it..
Heck, that's what are here and they just love killing, especially the old lady in this film played by the hard-looking Helen Mirren.) The cast is extremely deep and they're all fun to watch, not just Malkovich.
Action scenes are good, so are some performances, but this box office hit lacks soul & the fast-paced energy one expects from it.'Red' is about a yesterday team of CIA's agents gearing up, after an old rival decides to bump them off, as he feels they know a lot about him.
From Bruce Willis' leading hero to Helen Miriam feisty female fettle that she plays so well to Morgan Freedman''s great typecast role to John Malkovich''s paranoid, trigger-happy C.I.A retiree that steals the show more than once to Karl Urban''s bad-ass wild card agent all the way to Richard Dreyfuss' cool mobster a-hole, they all deliver convincing, if sly, performances; they know what kind of movie they are doing and go with it.
But in all my surprise, this was a fun action-comedy with enough laughs and action to kill some good time over a weekend.Frank (Bruce Willis), Joe (Morgan Freeman), Marvin (John Malkovich) and Victoria (Helen Mirren) used to be the CIA's top agents - but the secrets they know just made them the Agency's top targets.
The film co-stars John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Karl Urban, Morgan Freeman, Mary-Louise Parker and Ernest Borgnine.
A sequel was released in 2013.10/10 Score: A+ Studio: DC Entertainment Homage Entertainment di Bonaventura Pictures Cheyenne Enterprises DMG Entertainment Starring: Bruce Willis, Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Karl Urban, Mary-Louise Parker, Helen Mirren Director: Robert Schwentke Screenplay: Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber Based on Red by Warren Ellis Cully Hamner Producers: Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Mark Vahradian Rated: PG-13 Running Time: 1 Hr. 51 Mins.
I watched Red on my phone last night I didn't expect too much but it turned out to be a good entertainment to me!!!!"Bruce Willis" surprised me in his role I never thought he would be great and the action no doubt was 100% old school.
And the guys are also old but Superb!!!Other supporting cast were also good "Helen Mirren" was just perfect for her role she acted very well and "Morgan Freeman" was quite a scene stealer his acting was also great.The comedy was well added Overall this movie is a must watch and fantastic for everyone who likes old school action..
There are some great minor roles from Hollywood royalty such as Dame Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, and Brian Cox. The film is all about contrasts, and that doesn't just stop at the characters: there is a fair bit of action, offset by humorous dialogue-heavy scenes.
Big names such as Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren headline this epic action comedy, all taking on distinctive character roles and creating memorable performances.
John Malkovich gets some good laughs as the conspiracy theorist armed to the teeth: all of his conspiracies come true.What it shares with similar films is a predictable and improbable concoction of a plot that pits Helen Mirren and Bruce Willis as retired CIA agents against the Vice President of the US (or really, the corrupt industrialist behind the VP).
Who knew that Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and Hellen Mirren can make such great action movie heroes!
Talk about a great time - 2010's Red is a fun and exciting experience.The film stars Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Mary Louise Parker, Richard Dreyfuss, and Ernest Borgnine.
The film stars John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman and sadly Bruce Willis (but I guess he's beginning to get that age where he fits in with a cast of old timers) as the team.
Loosely based on a graphic novel by Warren Ellis, RED delivers and shows that other action heroes still got it.Frank Moses (Bruce Willis), is a retired black-ops CIA agent who is struggling to adjust to civilian and spends his time telephone Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker), a woman who works for the pensions services.