Review: Red (2010)

Robert Shwentke's Red, a film adaptation of the successful DC graphic novel series, takes its audience on a thrill ride with Frank Moses (Bruce Willis), a retired black-ops agent who's life has recently been threatened by what seems to be a group of highly trained federal agents. Upon defeating these agents and having few individuals closely related to him, Frank grabs the one gal he's interested in (Mary-Louise Parker) to prevent her from getting hurt and reassembles his team of retired assassins. The team includes Victoria (Mirren), the looney Marvin Boggs (Malkovich), and the ill but dangerous Joe Matheson (Freeman). As events unfold it seems the heros have been pinned with an assassination and it is up to them to infiltrate CIA headquarters and get to the bottom of what turns out to be quite the large cluster of conspiracy. Red is a rarity in the sense that it's a graphic novel adaptation that works (without the Frank Miller touch). With A-list actors and a uniquely humorous idea, it was hard to miss the mark with Red. Though at times relying a bit too much on witty phrases from Willis and Malkovich and on explosions, the film is carried by strong performances and character development that is many times lost in translation with comic book movies. It wasn't necessarily the old age of the characters that fueled the most laughs and interest, but perhaps both the characters' and actors' youthful on-screen charisma; had one character been recast, this group of assassin retirees may have lost a sense of chemistry that is seldom achieved such as in Red. Although there were many generic elements of this high octane action comedy, most of them were the good kind. The film's ability to carry the audiences interest, its great additional performances from actors Brian Cox and Karl Urban, its fitting soundtrack, and its creative scene transitions consisting of post cards fading into reality complete Red's solid formula, earning it a solid 3 stars.