Saturday, November 6, 2010

RED – A Movie Review



What do you get when you take four aged action stars and combine them with the roles of four retired (emphasis on retired) black-ops agents? Naturally, a group of retired and extremely dangerous fogies – who (clearly) still have it!

The film is (loosely) based on the three-issue comic book mini-series by Wildstorm in 2003 and 2004 and produced by DC Entertainment. It centers its focus on the main character Frank Moses (played by Bruce Willis) who is stuck in retirement from a former black-ops career that somebody has seen fit to (permanately) bury. With no option but to take along a young woman who’s inadvertantly caught up in the mess, Frank’s only option for survival is to connect with three former team-mates who are all connected: the wise Joe Matheson (played by Morgan Freeman), the neurotic Marvin Boggs (played by John Malkovich) and the beautiful Victoria (played by Helen Mirren). Together, they’ll fight for their own survival (and possibly a happy ending) or die trying (and not from old age).

From the get-go, RED is a virtually non-stop action ride with a perfectly even-mixture of action and comedy (with a little romance to top it off) for one of the best action-comedies of 2010.

Without giving away anything more than what the previews show for this film – I’ll focus on the pros and cons of the film with an ultimate rating (being one to five stars).

Pros:
+Constant pace of the film keeps the story flowing evenly, not dragging its feet and making the viewer feel left behind.
+Hardly able to lose the viewer with a clearly pronounced story.
+Plot twists and surprises keep the viewer guessing.
+Willis, Malkovich, Freeman, and Mirren all perform fantastically for their roles: not over-the-top nor under-achieving... completely believeable.
+Steady comedic pace thrown in for just the right timing to eliminate dull moments.

Cons:
-Mary-Louise Parker’s acting seemed very rigid and forced... not natural at all, even for her type of character.
-The odd one-liner oozed with cheesiness... not enough to upset the entire film, but slightly wound fantastic action scenes.

Bottom-line: If you get the chance to see RED and you enjoy either action or comedy (with a little romance) .. do not pass this one up. Released on October 15, 2010, you definitely still have time to catch it in theatres (very recommended!).

4.5 / 5 stars.

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