“Red” stars Bruce Willis as retired CIA agent Frank Moses. Living a bored and lonely life, Frank’s only friend is Sarah, (played by Mary-Louise Parker) who works in the pension check department. Frank rips-up his monthly checks just so he can call Sarah and ask for new ones.
Frank makes plans to finally travel to Kansas City and meet Sarah in person, but first he’s nearly killed by current CIA agents, who he learns, have targeted him and his group of former agents, who are also retired. This gang of oldies but goodies includes Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren. They get back together and try to figure out who’s really trying to kill them and why.
“Red” has a nice opening sequence, but then when it becomes obvious where the plot is going, you quickly realize that this is simply another version of “The A-Team” and “The Expendables”, two movies from earlier this year. The only real difference is that the characters in “Red” are a little older. Oh, and Parker’s Sarah is very similar to Cameron Diaz’s character in “Knight and Day”.
What’s supposed to make “Red” stand out from the others is the comedy element, but it just doesn’t work. The movie tries to be clever, for example – having the 65 year old Mirren firing high-powered weapons or the Malkovich character being a goofball, but it mostly falls flat. The action scenes are simply shootouts and the story goes exactly where you think it’s going.
As for the performances, there’s no chemistry between Willis and Parker, Malkovich is simply “Being John Malkovich”, Mirren does have some fun with her role, but Freeman is hardly on the screen at all. Veteran actors Richard Dreyfuss and Ernest Borgnine are also in the star-studded cast. But, as always, it takes more than stars to make an enjoyable film. “The A-Team”, “The Expendables” and “Knight and Day” worked because you went along on the fun ride with those characters. With “Red” you simply sit back and watch the story play out.
“Red” is rated PG-13 for intense action-violence and some adult language. It’s o.k. for kids 12 and up but I can’t recommend it for kids because they won’t appreciate the one joke the movie has going for it: old people shooting guns. Because of the cast and the plot, this is definitely a film for an older audience, but I think even most of them will be mildly disappointed.
On The Official Kid Critic Report Card, “Red” gets a disappointing C.
This movie got a lot of love from the Golden Globes (Hollywood Foreign Press Association) but was shut-out from any Academy Awards nominations. The Oscar voters got it right.