RED (Retired Extremely Dangerous) is fun, exciting, and funny with one of the best casts you could ever hope for. The movie is based on the DC comics and has plenty of entertainment to fill anyone’s heart. What more could you ask for than an action-thriller about retired agents who can still kick ass even at their old age. Then throw in the names of Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, and Helen Mirren and you have a hit on your hands.
Frank (Willis), Joe (Freeman), Marvin (Malkovich) and Victoria (Mirren) use to be the best of the best when it came to being an agent in the CIA. Now they have grown old and retired, and they don’t feel the thrill and excitement of being an agent anymore. Frank has his routine every morning and it does not involve much. The one thing he looks forward to everyday is talking to Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker), a phone dispatcher in Kansas City.
Joe is sitting in a rest-home looking at the nurses and making up his own fantasies in his head. Marvin is a paranoid man who lives out in the woods where no one can find him. And Victoria seems to be the only one who is enjoying retirement, but she does do some killing on the side to keep her blood pumping.
One night, Frank is targeted and almost killed by a group of assassins. So knowing he has been watched and followed, he escapes, goes to get Sarah to keep her safe, and gets the team back together. They will have to use everything that made them the best agents to find out why the CIA wants them dead and who is involved. This leads to a cross-country mission to break in to the CIA Headquarters to get some answers and get their names off a list that threatens their existence. But it is not going to be easy because they are being hunted by Agent William Cooper (Karl Urban).
RED is one of those movies where you know it is going to be a blast, which I’m sure is what director Robert Schwentke was counting on when he cast his aged action flick. Willis is the only star who we know is an action hero, but all five of them fill their roles nicely and are action heroes in their own right. Freeman adds some humanity to the movie. He makes you forget that they were once cold-blooded killers. Joe is a calm, but dangerous guy who is the oldest of all of them. He is the most sensible one in the group besides Victoria.
And what a change this is for Mirren. We have seen her in some intense dramas and very few romantic films, but nothing like this. Victoria is a beautiful, older woman who seems so sweet and elegant. You cannot imagine her being a sniper who kills people, but she did and still does.
Malkovich brought most of the laughs in Secretariat and he does the same thing here. He is really showing a different side of himself in these movies. And Marvin is perfect for Malkovich to get carried away with. Marvin is unpredictable and crazy (which the reason is explained). He enjoys chaos and does not mind if he scares you a little bit. Or a lot. Just the facial expressions Marvin uses are baffling yet hilarious. Within two weeks, I have seen Malkovich let loose, have fun, and make people laugh.
Parker has a good role but it is not as fun as the others. Her character is just looking for a good time. She is bored and uses cheap, sappy love stories to escape her boring life. And Frank takes her on the ride of her life that involves being shot at, blown up, being chased, and possibly being killed. And Willis has no problem being Frank. He is the centerpiece to all of this mayhem, and he fits right in. While Frank is trying to figure out why all of this is happening now that they are retired, he is having fun spending time with Sarah. He is looking for that excitement he use to have and Sarah may be the answer.
I must say Urban does a great job playing the agent of the here and now. We get the feeling he is where the rest of them were before they entered retirement. However, they are smarter and better than he is, but they understand where he is coming from and the information he is being told. The same information the rest of them have probably heard before.
RED possibly could have been a better movie considering the great talent it had. But a movie like this is suppose to excite and entertain. It has great action scenes with awesome explosions. It does what it is supposed to do—kick ass. Maybe the movie won’t impress you, but you better believe it will satisfy you at the very least.
“Nature Boy” Brandon Vick is the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and star of Brandon’s Box Office In Your Mouth. Follow him on Twitter@SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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