RED is not your typical action movie. It's not your typical comedy. And it's certainly not your typical middle-age feel good movie. Its all of that and a whole lot more.
RED stands for Retired: Extremely Dangerous, the category given to a group of former CIA agents who are ho-humming along with their monotonous lives. Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) is bored, lonely and pathetic. His social skills minimal, he derives his little life pleasure from attempted flirting - by phone, no less - with a lovely woman from pension services whose biggest dream is a little excitement.
But when Frank's life, along with his friends and the object of his phone flirtation, is threatened, he gets back into fighting form to invetigate why the CIA is suddenly trying to eliminate the RED team.
Malkovich shines in typically wacky role
Whether he's stoically clothed in a suit complete with the dry-cleaner's plastic or, grey hair askew, running down the street screaming with a bomb tied to him, Malkovich once again demonstrates his ability to garner laughs as both hyper and paranoid Marvin Boggs. His pink pig and stuffed cat with the tinfoil hat will bring a tear to your eye.
Willis' character, on the surface, seems to be his typical Die Hard-type, shoot-em-up bad goodguy, but there are many layers to Frank Moses, and Willis hits each note perfectly. From the desolation of loneliness, to the boredom of retirement to the uncertainty of love, Moses is one of Willis' most complex and interesting characters in years.
Freeman and Mirren full of class, as always
Helen Mirren and Morgan Freeman are at their most humorous because of their characters' contrasts to other movie roles. Mirren's old-lady decorated home and flower arranging disguise her machine gun and necessity to take a few "jobs on the side" to chase away the boredom of retirement. Freeman's gawking at his nursing home caretaker's behind is unexpected from the star of such Oscar-worthy classics as the Shawshank Redemtion and Driving Miss Daisy.
The two actors, for whom the word "class" is more than appropriate, are hilarious, simply because the viewer does not expect to see them in such roles... its like watching Something About Mary with Julie Andrews taking over for Cameron Diaz.
RED may seem like a movie for the middle-aged who want to relive the glory years, but it is actually a witty, exciting and unpredictable action comedy the whole family (well, most of the family) will enjoy. Full of twists, chases, battles and most of all laughs, RED is not to be missed.
Ashlea Langevin - Ms. Langevin is a freelance writer and currently works for the federal government as a Program Assistant in Ottawa, Ontario. She completed ...
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