RED 2 (2013)

"It's important to enjoy life while you still can." - Victoria

Directed by Dean Parisot who previously directed Fun with Dick and Jane, and Galaxy Quest, RED 2 continues on the story of Ex CIA Black ops agent, Frank Moses (Bruce Willis). Frank is trying to lead a normal life with his girlfriend, Sarah Ross (Mary Louise-Parker) when he is called back into action by his friend Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich). Due to his Frank ties with the Cold War operation known as Operation Nightshade, Frank is being chased after by his ex-girlfriend and russian aggent, Katya (Catherine Zeta Jones) and by an American agent, Jack Horton (Neal McDonough) who hired contract killer, Han Jo-Bae (Lee Byung Hun). Frank had to reunite his old team to track down Dr. Edward Bailey (Anthony Hopkins), a brilliant physicist and the creator of the bomb involved with the operation in order to find out what it's all about and put a stop to it.

Whoa! Spoilers ahead!

Well, I haven't yet watch the first one, RED released in 2010, so I'm going to review this as a standalone movie with no comparison to the first. Similar premise to the A-Team, The Losers and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, you got a team of professionally trained mercenaries/killer/soldiers/secret agents and for some whatever reason, gets a target on their head by their own country and then had to go out to save the world, and erase their name from the wanted list. In this case, these guys are Ex-CIA black ops agents. So there's really no originality in terms of the premises. What I've learned and understand is that this movie is adapted from a DC comic book, and like "The Losers", Hollywood manage to mess up its adaptation, because it's nothing like the original comic book. However, compared to ill-adapted "The Losers", this one is way cooler and I think, it could very well be on par with the A-Team in terms of its action comedy genre. So, I guess that's a plus point.

 Ah... it's good to see John McClane doing his thing.

I enjoy the relationship between the characters. Even this odd moment.

Well, seeing Bruce Willis does his John McClane thing never fail to impress me. Like McClane, he has his charm in delivering his one liners and it's always nice to see him use his wits to get out of trouble, no matter how outrageous and impossible it turns out. The action is good and there were plenty of hilarious moments, especially seeing Sarah and Frank trying to get even with one another, as well as try to get their relationship to work in the midst of gun-firing action, car chase and a bomb threat going. As for the others, each character is essentially crafted well and unique on its own and their relationship, including their banter with one another were well written and really enjoyable to watch, which is a good thing for a team based movie. Apart from Bruce Willis, I particularly like the way Anthony Hopkins played his character really well and referring to the twist of his villainy side, to quote his character line, "I didn't see that one coming," but I certainly saw his demise coming. Somehow that trick to leave the enemy's weapon with the enemy and trying to fool the audience into thinking that our hero failed to save the day, it has been done plenty of times before. I mean, James Bond foiled the airplane terrorist plot with the same trick in Casino Royale.

 I didn't see that one coming...

Well, this film doesn't take itself seriously, and should be enjoyed as such. Sometimes, I feel there were moments that are downright silly. Because I was going "what?!" when our ruthless Korean contract killer, Han Jo-Bae had a change of heart in a jiffy. I would think if you're good in this assassination game and had years of experience, you would have developed a cold heart, because Han certainly showcased it when he quickly assassinated the dude in the beginning without a second thought. But then again, for a guy like him who's kills his target swiftly, silently and deadly with a piece of origami, I'm surprised he degraded to a typical Hollywood killer when he appeared next with a big mini gun. I think he would have gotten his job done with either a sniper rifle in the distance or even an origami up close or even he can also use his killer body to do some kung fu and take down Frank (Puns intended. His killer body certainly made some girls hyperventilate in the cinema). Then again, it's just a movie. Nobody would ask how in the world our characters got the time and money to shop in Paris when there's a deadly bomb plot going on, or how can they easily go globe trotting without being notice by the immigration that they're wanted people. I mean, weren't they deemed something like a group of nuclear terrorists by the Interpol?

 Big guns do not proportionate to the how deadly an assassin is.

Plenty of cool action and hilarious moments, the relationship and banter between the characters, especially that of Frank and Sarah, were really fun and enjoyable. Despite the silliness at times, it's a good summer, light-hearted, action comedy, team based movie. Am not disappointed at all. I would give this movie a 7.5 out of 10 deadly nerve gas. Guess I better start picking up the first movie and watch.

(click below to watch the trailer)

"What happens in Kremlin, stays in the Kremlin."

This whole sequence reminds me a lot of Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol