Usa, 2010: Red

**Conde Koma** · Posted On: 10/22/2010 5:05pm

RED
USA, 2010
Genre: Action, Comedy, Spy
111 minutes
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1245526/

Bruce Willis leads and all-star cast as Frank Moses, a Retired and Extremely Dangerous CIA operative who becomes entangled in a political conspiracy thirty years in the making.

It’s refreshing to see Bruce Willis back in action since his small cameo in the Expendables earlier this year. While he has aged considerably, like Stallone, Trejo, and other stars appearing from years past, it seems like Willis has done so much more gracefully than the others. RED is fun and full of fireworks, really playing up the idea of experience over youth in a world full of deadly assassins and one-person wrecking crews. Based on the Warren Ellis comic of the same name, director Robert Schwentke really expanded and developed the universe and characters from the original graphic novel. The movie feels pretty hokey in places, but in an endearing way. Some of the design and motion graphic elements feel out of place, adding to the sense of kitsch that pervades the film. There’s a running theme of travel postcards, but the graphics didn’t seem to really contribute in any meaningful way. Still, the pace and editing is suitably high-energy and entertaining, using a funktastic soundtrack provided by Christophe Beck. It plays up the cheesiness fittingly, and although a bit predictable, suits the feel of the rest of the movie.

It’s apparent that Willis and the rest of the cast really had a ball with this one. Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, and Helen Mirren all deliver highly entertaining performances, playing off each other like old friends who just happen to kill people. The dialogue isn’t the greatest, and is downright uninspired in places, but they all make it work as best they can. The biggest issue was the lack of chemistry between Willis and the love-interest played by Mary-Louise Parker. Willis is awkwardly charming, but the believability of the romance between him and the younger woman seems strange and, while not impossible, more than a bit suspect. The story itself isn’t spectacular, and has a tendency to jump around in a jarring fashion. Still, there’s a decent amount of political intrigue, even if Willis’ idea of espionage is to just barrel forward and take what he wants. It’s not exactly a spy movie, but there’s enough twists to keep you guessing.

The action feels directly out of the comic book it was inspired by. A solid budget towards stunts and effects mean lots of explosions and shoot outs, and it looks great. Nothing particularly new or innovative, but the image of Mirren behind a machine gun is definitely a highlight. Also deserving mention is the fantastic fist fight between Willis and the villain Karl Urban. Hard-hitting and well-shot, it’s the best action sequence in the film. Some of the MMA and wrestling elements seem a bit out of place with them throwing coffee mugs, phones, and file cabinets at each other, but the amazing BJJ submission pulled off at the end makes it worth it. Overall, RED is a solid value if you need a fight film fix this fall, but I wouldn’t expect it to be on anyone’s Christmas list in the future.

Blog Link: http://fightfilmfriday.wordpress.com...lm-friday-red/

**money** · Posted On: 10/22/2010 6:09pm

I thought it was an enjoyable way to spend a Sunday afternoon and the wife liked it as well. Personally, I thought Mary Louise Parker was one of the highlights of the film. She was hilarious.

**hpr** · Posted On: 10/22/2010 6:51pm

We liked it too. I noted (and commented to my wife) about how western action movie fighting sequences have changed dramatically after MMA hit main stream. Choreographers still hold on nicely to that fantastic feel when it's appropriate but overall it has gotten a lot more realistic. Which also means more enjoyable to me.

All those known, exceptional actors (I think Bruce is quite talented too) made Mary Louise Parker stand out like a duck though. Nothing wrong with what she did, but still second rate compared to Mirren, Malkovich or Freeman.

**It is Fake** · Posted On: 10/22/2010 6:55pm

It’s refreshing to see Bruce Willis back in action since his small cameo in the Expendables earlier this year

You must have missed his terrible movie earlier this year. I'm glad to see he can still have fun and make a good movie.

**Conde Koma** · Posted On: 10/22/2010 10:53pm

that movie never happened.

FOR ANYONE.

**Snake Plissken** · Posted On: 10/23/2010 5:17am

How would you stack this against a similar seeming film like Wanted or the Losers?

**It is Fake** · Posted On: 10/23/2010 5:24am

Losers was terrible IMO. Wanted was fun. I'd say this was above both considerably minus 15-20 minutes that slowed the story down.

**Conde Koma** · Posted On: 10/23/2010 8:00am

Wanted was pretty fun, but mcavoy just didn't have the same starpower/confidence/swagger/whatever you wanna call it that willis has. maybe it's because i'm biased (willis has been around longer and churned out more films, etc), but it's hard to get behind an action movie with a newbie in the lead role. wanted is still a pretty good film, to be sure, but Red is a better pick for me.

never saw the losers, i heard only "meh" things about it and decided to save my cash for other films.

**Snake Plissken** · Posted On: 10/23/2010 9:04am

Originally Posted by Conde Koma

never saw the losers, i heard only "meh" things about it and decided to save my cash for other films.

Losers is essentially Idris Elba first. Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana and Chris Evans second.

It has some decent scenes and some descent action, but the story...oddly enough....was a bit weak.