Review of RED (2010) by Roddersj04 — 10 May 2011

I gotta say, I didn't find this film as good as I thought it would be. I thought it would offer more to action-comedy films, but ended up being another actioner with comedy, but the film does manage to hit that place in between being charming and brutally violent.

The cast are brilliant. Short of The Expendables and Inception, this is probably the best cast list of 2010. Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and Hellen Mirren as retired CIA agents, Mary Louise Parker (love her in Weeds) as Willis' love interest and Karl Urban as CIA agent, all acting at top notch form.

Did the cast take badass pills during filming, because thats what they (bar Julian Mcmahon and Mary Louise Parker) seem to primarily be. Especially Willis and Urban, whom have a fantastic fight within the CIA headquaters.

Props have to be given for Hellen Mirren, wielding machine guns and using turrets like she's been using them her entire acting career, as well as threatening Mary Louise Parker to "kill her and bury her body in the woods" should she break Franks heart.

Morgan Freeman isn't actually in the film for much time, but the parts that he is in, he lights up the scenes, and manages to provide one of the films best moments, where Richard Dreyfuss gloats that he can't be touched and Morgan Freeman smacks him across the face.

John Malkovich is definately the breakout star of this film, the shining star of this movie. From his first appearance, he proves to be the best character of this film with his wonderfully madcap attiude and his method of madness, including carrying around a stuffed pig that carrys a fold-up gun inside, which is also used to hit back a grenade at an enemy.

The best scene in the film has to be the fight at the docks, with Malkovich proving rocket launchers can be beaten by a simple bullet. There's a brilliant pause after the enemy remarks "Thats right, old man" where Malkovich just stops and questions "Old man?" followed by him proving his worth and saying the line of the film, "Old man my ass".

So all in all, Red may not be the most groundbreaking film there is, but what is there is undoubtably a fun ride.