RED (2010)

 "Wow, this is just like Love Savage's Secret."- Sarah Ross

What's Spider-Pig doing there?

Directed by German director, Robert Schwentke, RED tells the story of Frank Moses (Bruce Willis), a retired black ops CIA agent, trying to lead a normal life when he and other ex-agent members are being targeted due to their ties to a secret mission in Guatemala. Sarah Ross (Mary-Louise Parker), a customer service agent who works for the GSA pension office in Kansas City, gets dragged along when Frank needs to find the other retired agents members involved in this mission; Joe Matheson (Morgan Freeman), Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich), Victoria Winters (Helen Mirren), while being pursued by CIA agent William Cooper (Karl Urban).

She brought a lot of class in this.

This is one of those movies where you just need to relax, don't do so much thinking and just enjoy the ride. With its tongue in cheek moments and action filled sequences, it's definitely an enjoyable film but as an audience, you begin to forget the peril and threat that these guys have to go through. I can only spot two scenes when there's some serious mood to it and felt that they're out of place in the whole film. The first being the part when one of the team member had to sacrifice himself in order for the rest to escape and the other one was when Cooper was on the phone with Frank and realized that his family is in danger. But those scene passed on and the consequences were dealt with very quickly, and we're back to more of the less serious moments and over the top action.

One of those cheesy over the top moments... Marvin facing a bazooka girl with only a revolver.

Guess the size of your gun doesn't matter.

As for its pacing, it's a lot slower in the beginning, taking time to build up the film and introduces Frank's character. It's perhaps I've watched this movie after watching the sequel, which was a lot more quicker in its pace. Also, unlike the second, the first half focuses on Frank and Sarah's story as the film then builds up to a more team focus movie, which makes up the second half. Bruce Willis' Frank Moses in this movie, feels a bit more serious compares to the second, there's less one liners during action sequences and he doesn't kid around very much. It's especially evident when he calls up Cooper and threatens to harm his family if the CIA ever does anything to Sarah. Not very John McClane in this one, but Bruce is still a great guy in his movies.

 Bruce has some solid Kung Fu moves for getting in and out of spinning cars.

As for the other cast members, they played their roles very well. John Malkovich's Marvin Boggs was really hilarious and goofy with his conspiracy paranoia character. Helen Mirren's Victoria Winters was really impressive, she carried herself in a very queenly manner and certainly stole the limelight when this lady gets behind a huge machine gun. Morgan Freeman's Joe Matheson doesn't have as much screen time as the rest and he doesn't do as much. But Morgan, as usual, has his charm and charisma and much of it would be from his voice. Apart from the background story being mention in his conversation with Frank, I find it hard to believe Joe is in the same league as the other team members. Morgan could possibly play as a retired jazz singer, but I find it less convincing that his character was once a superb CIA black ops agent. Now, maybe if you got him to fire a bazooka or a mini-gun...

Morgan Freeman is about to narrate this guy's torture.

Action wise, it's not bad. Some things were really over the top, especially the scene at the Mobile Terminal yard... Marvin got some crazy moves, but that's okay for this sort of film. I particularly like the fight between Cooper and Frank, both of them took plenty of beating from one another and it's good to see there's some blood on them after a nasty fight like that. There were also moments that was written really smart, the one that got me was how Frank got out of the CIA building by means of a fireman and how Sarah uses her wits after she clumsily dropped Frank's contact lens. I didn't see that one coming. As for the twist in the end, although I didn't expect it, there was no real shocker. For starters, I wasn't even concern over the mystery aspect of the plot. I just couldn't take that one seriously when so much of the action, lines and story was already light hearted and not taking itself seriously. So, the unveiling of the twist and who's the mastermind behind everything was just not as thrilling as expected.

Things get bloody between John McClane and Judge Dredd

What's to enjoy from this movie is really the action comedy of it, and to see our beloved actors and actresses on screen. The story is not compelling or engaging, but the action scenes are enjoyable and the characters were fun to watch. Compare to its sequel, I can't say which I like better. The slightly more serious Frank Moses came off a little better for this one, but I still love the tongue in cheek John McClane-y Frank Moses in the second one, and the second one has the action scenes and its comedy rammed up to the next level. But overall, both are enjoyable movies and the cast are a joy to watch. I would give this one a 7 out of 10 pink Pigs with grenade launchers in them.

Click below to watch the trailer

Guess the party's over now...