Review of Red (1996) by Ryan S — 20 Jul 2013

Red (a.k.a. Retired Extremely Dangerous) is like the Expendables with even older people, adding more comedy, and not being as fun. Like the Expendables Red brings in many famous actors like Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, Brian Cox, etc. and they embark on a crazy adventure together. In the film these individuals are retired CIA agents. However, because of the CIA hunting them down they are forced out of retirement and kick ass once again. It is an awesome concept (especially with such big names), but one that does not live up to what it could have been.

First off the entire story is very basic and not deep or engaging at all. A simple story can work if I am entertained, and in this case I wasn't really. The action scenes are nothing to run home about. They were alright, but I have seen much better in countless action films like Expendables and Expendables 2. The villain played by Richard Dreyfuss is lame as well. He is very basic and has no depth what-so ever. Plus he gets defeated way too easily. A big problem with the film is that the final action scene is extremely anticlimactic. The heroes beat the villain without much of a hitch.

The characters are hit or miss for me. Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, and Brian Cox are a lot of fun in the film. Bruce Willis does a good job performance wise, but I found his character to be bland compared to most of the rest of the main cast. Carl Urban's character I did not really care for either. He is presented as a rival for Bruce Willis but comes off as more of a nuisance.

Sarah Ross, who played on the show Weeds, I did not like at all. She plays Bruce Willis's love interest and the token damsel in distress. I found her useless and very annoying. In terms of the comedy her jokes were the weakest and did nothing for me. She was really only in the film to appeal to a demographic. She should have been left out and focused on the main group kicking ass.

Overall, Red is a mediocre action film at best. Some of the characters are a lot of fun. However, other characters were annoying like Sarah Ross and Richard Dreyfuss's character. Plus you have an uninteresting story, bland villains, and mediocre action scenes. I know that this is based on a comic. I do not know if this is how the comic was because I have not read it. If you want a good action movie with big name actors watch the Expendables.