Red: A Review

Release year: 2010

Original title: Red

Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of action violence and brief strong language.

Tagline: Killer company man.

Genre: Action, comedy.

The introduction is quaint in its simplicity. We see Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) going around and doing his tough-guy thing. He puts up a few decorations after noticing that his is the only house lacking them and shows us a glimpse into his softer side during a conversation with Sarah Ross (Mary-Louise Parker), a customer service worker for the place handling Frank's pension checks.

Due to Sarah's direct involvement, Frank is growing an avocado plant in a jar and has been keeping abreast of a series of romance novels, Sarah being the sole motivation.

Frank's house is visited in the middle of the night by some very well-trained assassins.  Frank is prepared, though, and gets the upper hand very quickly. I won't tell you what he does or how he does it because the movie is an action-comedy. Telling you the action would be the same as ruining the jokes, the two are pretty much the foundation the movie is built on.

So anyway, that happens. Frank predicts that his phone line has been bugged and goes to Kansas City. The interaction between Frank and Sarah is absolutely priceless. I won't go too much into the comedy here, but I will say that their chemistry is strong, and maintains a decent level throughout the entire movie. You end up liking them both individually and as a couple.

Somewhere around this point is a pretty awesome car chase scene.

Next Frank goes to New Orleans to find Joe (Morgan Freeman) his mentor. Joe is currently living in a retirement home and later reveals he's terminally ill, though the casual nature that he does this in suggests that Frank already knows as he rightly should. Following clues left behind by a deceased reporter, whose death they suspect is no accident, the duo find a hit list. One that leads them to track down Marvin (John Malkovich), easily the most likable character in the entire movie.

Now I will say this. I feel that, as of late, it seems that group movies need that one off-kilter character that funny, crazy, but still dangerously skilled. In the A-Team it was Murdock, and here it's Marvin. I wouldn't put it beyond the staff of Red to have done this on purpose as some sort of parody, given how obvious the allusion is, but I think it's just good ol' fashioned character-type casting.

They continue onward, track down someone on the list, and this eventually leads to the next action scene. This one is a doozy, so hold on to your seats and keep your eyes peeled. A lot of stuff happens all at once and you want to make sure you squeeze every bit of enjoyment out of it.

I've left out a lot at this point, and I've also stopped quite some time before the end of the movie. I do this because the plot is not horribly complex or involving. It, and the characters inside of it, are entertaining and novel but only just enough to carry the movie forward. It is an action-comedy almost to a fault, with the best parts of the movie being the action and the comedy respectively.

The dynamics between the characters, though, are a rich source of characterization and their development is not at all static. The dialogue might be the best part of the movie. The top action shots for involves Willins in one and Malkovich in the other, so keep your eye out for those two.

If you've seen the movie post comments about what you thought, what you liked, and what your best action picks are.