CinematicSyndrome I think one would know what to expect from this kind of movies, the over the top action, clichéd hunt the bad guy with your friends, oh there's a list to help you out. You know if you start looking for plot holes and mistakes with the movie you'll find plenty but one can choose to ignore these and watch it just for the actions. But its devoid of any good action in the first 40 min. Performances by everyone is fine nothing commendable but you are not here to see performances are you? Story is predictable and nothing else worth mentioning In all its watchable and can be fun and enjoyable with friends. I would have given it 6 but i'm deducting one for boring me through the first 40 min.Verdict: meh.

NateWatchesCoolMovies Despite being somewhat neutered by the ever present annoyance of the PG-13 rating, Red is some of the most fun you can have with in the glib assassin subgenre of action comedy. Bold, hilarious and just a little bit demented, it jumps right off the pages of the graphic novel it was based on for just under two hours of wiseass popcorn movie nirvana, hosted by a cast that's almost too good to be true. 'RED' stands for 'Retired Extremely Dangerous', a moniker given to aging ex contract killers who have laid down the guns, but are still closely watched by the CIA. Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) is one such person, languishing in the doldrums of forced retirement, bored out of his mind and chatting endlessly with a cutey call center girl (Mary Louise Parker). Things get freaky when deranged former associate Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich) pays him a visit, belting out wild theories about the CIA sending operatives to terminate him. Before he knows it, Frank is swept up in espionage and intrigue once again, pursued by a slick, ruthless agency man (a deadly Karl Urban doing the anti-007 shtick nicely), with Parker in tow, whose terrified reactions to the escalating violence and deadpan sociopaths around her get funnier and funnier as the film progresses. Helen Mirren is regal gold as a well spoken ex MI6 spook who dissolves corpses in bathtubs full of acid, right before afternoon tea, I presume. Watching this dainty waif rock a Barrett 50 caliber and make red mist out of her enemies is one of the many mental pleasures one can get from this flick. Morgan Freeman takes it easy as another former buddy of theirs from the older, and I imagine, more agile days. As for the supporting cast, hell, take your pick. Richard Dreyfuss is a slimy Trump-esque politician lowlife, an underused James Remar shows up for a very brief cameo, as does that old toad Ernest Borgnine, Julian McMahon once again shows that no one wears a suit like Julian McMahan, and that lovable imp Brian Cox almost walks away with the film as a sly devil of a Russian agent who woos Mirren with the silver tongued virility of a fox. What works so well the dynamic between the three leads; Malkovich is mad as as hatter, Willis plays exasperated babysitter and Parker looks on in horror that starts to turn into amusement with every outlandish scenario. Action comedies are tricky recipes, and it's easy to let too much of one ingredient slip into the pot. This one keeps a steady trigger finger that's locked onto the funny bone and positively sails.

breakdownthatfilm-blogspot-com Like any human being, we all get old at some point. As our body age, we don't always have the same capability to perform the usual tasks we take on during the day. However when it comes to action related films, that concept doesn't exist as much. Characters have much more freedom to be highly skilled in their older age and still manage to be quite agile. The tone that is used in these films are more serious than comedic. Rarely is the subject of age conveyed in a more comic relief tone. Considering that in the year 2010, DC and Warner Brothers had only found success in making dark, serious comic book movies, it didn't seem likely that a movie of a lighter inflection would be made. Mind you this was also before the failed introduction of Hal Jordan in Green Lantern (2011), changing the formula seemed risky. Yet, as obscure as the comic book was, RED (2010) was a surprise hit after viewers saw it. Other than the campy Batman films directed by Joel Schumacher, there were few other DC comic book films of similar tone until this one.The title to this action comedy is actually an acronym that describes the protagonists; RED is short for "Retired, Extremely Dangerous". Viewers are introduced to Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) a retired veteran agent of the field looking to do something with himself but can't figure out what. After being attacked one night in his home, Moses brings along Sarah Ross (Mary-Louise Parker), a friendly phone operator in order to keep her safe. While on the road, they also reconnect with the rest of the team; cool man Joe Matheson (Morgan Freeman), crazy paranoid man Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich) and Eagle-eye Victoria (Helen Mirren). Together they look to find why they're being hunted, while the hunter himself named Cooper (Karl Urban) works endlessly to stop them. Jon and Erich Hoeber, two writers that do not have much consistency in their projects penned the screenplay adapted from the comic book. For this particular entry though, this has been their most widely acclaimed work.Having older agents come back into the field and still be lethal is a nice idea and the actors cast for those roles fit them well. The whole conspiracy subplot that involves the main characters can get wordy at times but it is understandable to some degree. The real problems are unsolved questions that appear throughout the movie. Things happen where it wasn't revealed at all and no answer was given by the conclusion. What's the point of that? Nonetheless, the actors themselves work well with the parts they were cast for. Willis, Mirren, Malkovich and Freeman all have acceptable chemistry with each other. This is perhaps one of the few times where Willis doesn't have to act so tough all the time in order to crack a smile. Even Mary-Louise Parker has a good number of quips for how strange Willis' character acts at first. Although the fact that the role of Sarah is somewhat a love interest to Frank is a tad cliché in itself, the real question is, who thought Parker and Willis looked good together? They aren't ages apart but Willis looks too old.John Malkovich's part is not an uncommon role, and being that his character is a little nutty, it fits right in. Marvin Briggs is the most comedic of the bunch being that he gets anxious to kill. On the other hand, Morgan Freeman slips away with his character practically just being himself but slicker. As for Helen Mirren, her part comes across delicate on the outside and a brutal sniper on the inside. Heck, Mirren doesn't even blink when she fires her weapons. Karl Urban as Cooper is another dangerous agent and although he's mostly cruel, he does have a human side to him. There's also other appearances from other actors like Richard Dreyfuss, Ernest Borgnine, Brian Cox and James Remar. For action, there are a number of sequences that are quite energetic. With the premise involving secret agents trained to kill, one would expect to have plenty of gunplay and explosive activity, of which it does. Throughout the running time, guns range from revolvers to powerhouse machine guns. Not to mention all the hand-to-hand combat too.Florian Ballhaus handled the cinematography for this film. The shots themselves were well executed but the look itself isn't that impressive. There wasn't much of a visual style to this film. There's not even a whole lot of director Robert Schwentke's "snap-zoom" movements, which is a pretty awesome trademark feature. The picture is wide and does get a number of urban landscapes but it's just not much to look at or to be fascinated with. One would think since Ballhaus has worked on movies like The Devil Wears Prada (2006) and Marley & Me (2008), there would be some kind of appeal. The musical score composed by Christophe Beck is another enjoyable listening experience. Much of Beck's composition mixes his usual sounds of bongos and drums with several different cues. These cues switch between guitar and clicky electronic synths that help elevate the action sequences when necessary. Also with Beck having experience in making music for comedy films, mingling action and comedic cues would make perfect sense coming from his perspective.The title is obscure just like its comic book origins, but it is one of the few comedic adaptations in the DC canon. The cinematography isn't unique nor is every question answered, but the actors are well cast, the action is fun, the music is great addition and the comedy is well timed.

willcundallreview With its jazzy score and high quality cast, Red thinks it's a pretty cool movie and to be fair at times it is, but for me just not overall. It uses action well and uses it enough not to make you think about the plot going on around it too much but it isn't good enough for me to cover the pretty average movie this is. It's pretty generic really, I mean don't get me wrong it tries to maybe make itself feel new and refreshing but for me it never steps up to a level at which it needs to get to if it wants to be enjoyable, but actually not also brainless. The plot revolves around an old team of RED (Retired, Extremely Dangerous) ex agents who come together to try and stop high skilled assassins and thugs sent from unknown assailants. The cast has a lot of big names in it, Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren and other names where you just might watch thinking "Hey its them, what are they doing in this". It does kind of feel odd if you come from the perspective of knowing nothing about this, big names are basically turned into action stars and with the exception really of Bruce Willis, many of the big names in this you would not expect to ever see them in such roles. They have fun for sure and it is fun in certain moments, but I feel it isn't fun enough and it never does enough to truly feel satisfactory. Bruce Willis as Frank Moses is, well he looks bored in the role, he isn't great here and although I think he is great casting, he doesn't do a good job. For me the two polar opposite actors here are Mary-Louise Parker who is pretty bad and John Malkovich who is pretty awesome, could not be different in how they play out their individual roles.Robert Schwentke directs and he doesn't do a great job, doesn't get enough out of the story and although the action is well taken care of, some choices in the pacing and timing of things is not done well. Too often in this it is a case of why didn't they shoot them in the head, why did they take so long to shoot and ultimately, who would or how would you ever get out of that or do such a thing. I don't like to criticise a film like this too much I mean it is mediocre but does contain some OK bits certainly, as mentioned the action is good, Malkovich is pretty funny and sometimes the cast can make all the difference in a scene, so this is not all bad by any means.I must mention the screenplay from Jon Hoeber and Erich Hoeber who both create a script that could I guess on paper look pretty nice but when visualised like how it is, just does not. The movie looks like it wants to be stylish with nicely done stunts, pretty pumped up action characters and a score that gives off a smell of self- satisfaction. In fact on the point of self-satisfaction, that is the one thing I truly felt made this irritating, you can see where the people making this thought "oh that looks cool, put it in" and I don't mean the actors but just the technical side of things as all. I'm not going to say don't see this, it's nothing bad in fact I don't even think it's poor but it is average though, same old and it just for me couldn't escape that feel.