Red
by Dante Rosario on October 22nd, 2010
The Starting Line-Up: Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker, Karl Urban, Chris Owens, Rebecca Pidgeon, Morgan Freeman, Ernest Borgnine, John Malkovich, Brian Cox, Helen Mirren, and Richard Dryfuss.
Dante’s Thoughts: Well by god, Bruce Willis has still got it! When he dies, I swear the man will go down as one of the ultimate action heroes. He may not be as young as he was in “Die Hard,” but his performance in “Red” proves that he’s still got it…his role in “The Expendables” doesn’t count. The thing that struck me the most about this movie was the comedic storyline; it had to be a comedy, otherwise no one in the audience would have taken it seriously. We’ve all seen older actors playing assassins before…just a few years ago Bruce Willis played an assassin in the 2006 crime thriller, “Lucky Number Slevin,” but a team of assassins all over the age of 60, and living in a retirement home, is a fairly new concept. Joining Willis on his team of geriatric action heroes are John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, and Helen Mirren. Although I did find this movie entertaining, the story isn’t that great, and neither is the acting. In the end, “Red” is just another ‘shoot em up’ movie…the only difference is the shooters are old enough to be your grandparents.
The Game Plan: Frank Moses is a retired assassin looking for something to occupy his time. Finding it hard to cope with the drastic changes in his life after becoming a normal person, Frank makes a personal connection with the woman he talks to when he calls in for his retirement checks. Frank’s relationship raises some concerns for his former employers and they decide they want him out of the picture for good. After his old bosses try to kill him, Frank assembles his old team to help him fight back and get even.
Touchdowns:
- The comedic script, and Oscar caliber actors. The cast certainly didn’t deliver academy award winning performances, but I didn’t expect that from this movie…“Red” was all about the writing, and the comedic dialogue.
Penalties:
- The lack of action…believe it or not. The story isn’t that complex, so I couldn’t understand why the director didn’t put more emphasis on the visuals.
- The obvious liberties taken with time and space…I’m not a physicist or a student at Hogwarts, so even I know instantaneous travel doesn’t exist, and there are moments in this film where it seemed like someone just made a wish…and poof…the characters on screen were magically transported to another place. In my mind, the lack of explanation regarding how and when the characters moved was a major issue, which made the movie lose some of its credibility.
The Game Winner: “Red” is an entertaining action comedy that delivers in all the right places. Sure there were some sacrifices made in terms of the acting, but audiences will get to enjoy an all star cast that seems to be along for the comedic ride with them…
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