Australian Penthouse

RED

Director: Robert Schwentke
Stars: Bruce Willis, Mary Louise-Parker, Morgan Freeman, Hellen Mirren, John Malkovich, Karl Urban, Richard Defuses, Ernest Borgnine, Brian Cox

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Director Robert Schwentke may seem like an odd choice to direct the comic book adaptation RED, considering his pedigree. His last feature was The Time Traveller’s Wife, and branching out into the action heavy genre is definitely a step in the right direction.

Gone are the days when a comic book movie would elicit a mass groan, as fans leave the cinema in droves scratching their heads in disbelief. Those moments are now reserved for The Last Airbender. More recently, a throng of directors have stepped up to the plate to deliver solid, extremely watchable films such as Kick Ass, The Losers, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, while remaining true to the source material, and RED is no exception.

The acronym RED stands for Retired Extremely Dangerous and relates directly to ex-operative Frank Moses (Bruce Willis, The Expendables). Formerly the best of the best in Black Ops, he’s now relegated to a mundane civilian existence where the highlight of his week is the phone call to his pension fund manager Sarah (Mary Louise-Parker, Weeds) complaining about his missing cheque (which he destroys on purpose, regularly).

The situation changes drastically when a faceless pencil-pusher green lights Moses “RED” and sends a clean-up crew to “retire” him. The results are fairly predictable—and spectacular—leaving Moses on the run with Sarah in tow for her own safety. On the run with The Agency on his trail Moses seeks out his former squad members to “put the band back together” and find out who’s on their trail and why.

Joe Matheson (Morgan Freeman, The Dark Knight) lives out his days at a retirement home, with the most action he sees being glance at a nurse’s firm chassis while tuning the TV. Years of government sanctioned LSD abuse has left RED team member Marvin Boggs a paranoid conspiracy nut, this train-wreck is played to perfection by John Malkovich (Burn After Reading) with great comedic timing.

The standout of the crew is the masterful casting of Helen Mirren (State of Play) as wet-works specialist, Victoria. Her poise and grace coupled with her knowledge of heavy calibre weaponry is a joy to behold, nicely balancing out the male cast.

Hot on their trail is the opportunistic and eager Agent Cooper (Karl Urban,  Star Trek), who realises he may have bitten off more than he can chew after a brief altercation with Moses.

Without giving away too much of the plot, RED is a standard “clear our names so justice can be served” flick, but the way it’s handled by Schwentke gives the viewer much more than a by the numbers shoot ’em up. The tone and score emulates Ocean’s Eleven with a snap in its step via the fantastic chemistry between the leads.

The action sequences are restrained, with more focus on memorable moments than mass explosions, whether its Moses stepping from a moving car to light up Agent Cooper’s SUV or Victoria manning a .50 calibre mini-gun (worth the price of admission alone!).

The cast is rounded out with a stellar performance by Brian Cox as a Russian adversary-turned-ally,  Julian McMahon as the whiney V.P. of the United States (who has a plastic surgery and botox problem), Richard Dreyfuss as a slimy weapons manufacturer, and the great Ernest Borgnine as the keeper of CIA records. His role is not a stretch in the least, but it’s always a treat to see the old fella on the big screen.

Fun, action-packed, with a dash of romance and great chemistry all around, RED is a return to action movies that don’t take themselves too seriously, but rather focus on snappy bantering and real acting rather than a massive budget to get it across the line.

Red opens nationally October 28

Review: Dave Kozicki