Review of RED 2 (2013) by James W — 27 Dec 2013

The last time Bruce Willis was in Moscow he was in another sequel that was bland, and just like A Good Day To Die Hard, Red 2 is quite bland. The writing is weaker and the characters are less interesting than before, and yet again Willis phones it in now and again but it's not his worst performance.

What also bothered me was the development of characters, just because they were strong the first time round doesn't mean you can't develop them more, it certainly seems like the writers have skimped out on that.

As much as I love Mary Louise Parker her character in this second instalment feels underwritten, she's like a loose part waltzing behind Moses and Marvin although she does do her best with the material delivering some big laughs and looking good.

Catherine Zeta Jones over does it but nonetheless you can tell she is having a lot of fun and that fun is passed onto you, but it's easy to say Helen Mirren is the gold star in this movie, she is witty, smart and whenever she appears the movie feels stronger all of a sudden, same goes to Anthony Hopkins who plays a great nutcase.

Red 2 shares flaws and positives, the positives being the light hearted nature and some of the cast's performance, plus the action is silly but fun, but the flaws are the forgettable story, rubbish bad guys and an overly long run time.

If you enjoyed the first movie you will like this but you'll notice the step down in quality, especially in the editing as it's loose, clunky and the dialogue plays out when lips aren't moving, all proving rather distracting.