Review of RED 2 (2013) by Quincytheodore — 21 Aug 2013

Although not as well constructed as the prequel, these senior action heroes still have gleeful somewhat appealing spy adventure. Like all the movies with collection of stars, RED 2 adds some familiar faces into the mix. Anthony Hopkins and Lee Byung-Hun are nice inclusion, they bring some novelty with nice acting and stunts. The story is far from impeccable, it's a bit rushed, contains too many half-baked plan of infiltration and relies more on firepower than the previous title. However, it is still decent and fun to watch as the cast seem to enjoy the mash, especially towards the end.

Story revolves around the usual conspiracy, framed heroes and zealous contract killers. It passes some points with little explanations, these scenes occasionally turn silly, not in the witty parody of spy flick, but simply ridiculously mindless. Bruce Willis has decent performance, although sometimes he looks overly joking, or just sleepy, and can't be taken seriously. John Malkovich is good, he provides strange nuance as if he's funny with that little grim side tucked away. These two and Mary Louise-Parker seem to be enjoying their roles and it gives the movie a lighter tone, almost comedic even.

Anthony Hopkins is suavely convincing, his voice exudes sophistication although he appears slightly frail from his age. Catherine Zeta-Jones plays the femme fatale from the past, but she's trapped in a generic role and her rivalry with jealous main character is very silly. The martial artist Lee Byung-Hun completes the cast as it's almost mandatory to have an Asian to do all the fight stunts. Surprisingly, he has fairly amount of humor part as well, it won't be a surprise to see him more often in Hollywood movies.

While the cast does possess weighty names, the script is rather weak. Jokes are stale, with only a few of them able to force chuckle. Screenplay also isn't executed neatly as in the first, half of it is predictably sluggish. It picks up the pace towards the end and ultimately ends up passable. More explosives and bullets are utilized, although they are dull and have less impact than they are meant to be. Aside from the occasion tussle and despite the soundtracks' fervent attempt to fire up the audience, the action is only average.

RED 2 has some merits, it's fairly enjoyable, but it's arguably inferior to the first. It is less charming, not as clever and not an appealing case for another sequel, which is a shame since RED has potential to be a smarter version of Expendables.