Bruce Willis stars as Frank Moses, a pensioner living a lonely existence of quiet desperation. It’s so bad for Frank that the only pleasant experiences he has is when he calls the pension office to speak with Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker) a clerk whom he has a major crush on. Frank actually tears up the pension checks that he receives just so he can order a new one as an excuse to speak to Sarah. They spend time talking about the plants that he’s growing in his house, and the trashy romantic novels that Sarah loves to read. Thankfully, before Red begins to get too boring, a hit squad shows up at Frank’s house, locked and loaded, and looking to kill him.
But Frank, who turns out to be a former CIA hit man himself, gets the drop on the killers and quickly goes to ground. Realizing that Sarah may well be a target, he goes and picks her up--ignoring the fact that she doesn’t really want to be rescued, and considers him to be a kidnapping psychopath. With the now tied up and gagged Sarah in tow, Frank starts looking up some old friends from the agency in an attempt to find out who wants him dead and why. Based on the comic book written by Warren Ellis and illustrated by Cully Hamner, RED stands for Retired: Extremely Dangerous, which easily refers to Frank and his gray-haired posse.
The film is more of an action/comedy, with the humor becoming very over the top and just plain silly in some scenes. But what really makes this film so much fun is the great cast. Aside from Willis and Parker, who are both superb, the fantastic cast also includes Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Brian Cox, Richard Dreyfuss, Ernest Borgnine and Karl Urban. The story is more character-driven than plot-driven, which is a good thing, because it lets this great cast just grab the ball and run with it. Which is not to say that the action scenes are lacking in any way.
There’s a one on one, brutal fight between Willis and Urban within the offices of the CIA which is astounding to watch. But, for the most part, Red is a comedic satire on all the spy movies we’ve seen over the years, and it works very well as a light-hearted romp. Just think of it as an enjoyable lark--much like how Sarah eventually comes to see her time with Frank as being. If you’re looking for hard-core spy action, then there’s always James Bond in Casino Royale. But as long as you don’t take it too seriously, Red offers a good time along with its action movie thrills. --SF
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