Red

By Steve Kochems

In a year of lackluster films (see Alice in Wonderland, Clash of the Titans, Killers, The Bounty Hunter, the list goes on…), the fall has seemed to shape up quite nicely. 

Due to poor funding for our blog (donate!), I have been unable to see The Social Network, which has been deemed a surefire hit, even lesser films have seemed to impress with the leaves changing (Jackass 3D, The Town). However, I would be hard pressed to think that anything left to come this year (save for the Coen’s True Grit) will exceed the level of satisfaction almost any movie-goer can get out of Red.

Most anyone will notice just by seeing the trailer or cast list that Red had little room to fail. Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, and Helen Mirren don’t even require previous film credits next to their names. And to boot, Karl Urban (LOTR: The Two Towers, Return of the King) might be the strongest actor in the film. The plot revolves around Frank Moses (Willis), a retired CIA agent who gets a visit from a hit squad. This awakes Frank from the drudgery of the golden years and draws him back into the game. He drags along a lady who he hardly knows, Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker), and subjects her to much of the confinements traveling with an assassin would entail- handcuffing, zip ties, the usual. It’s not long after that we see that a young ambitious agent, William Cooper (Urban), is tasked with tracking down Frank.

Frank decides he must uncover why someone would put a hit on him, beyond the obvious. Along this journey he seeks out old friends and foes. Red brings together one of the best ensembles in recent history, and even rivals the casts of Old School and Oceans 11 with their star power. The nova of this cast is probably Malkovich, who plays a LSD induced agent that provides some of the more lucrative but hilarious moments in the film. It’s also worth mentioning the convenient role of Brian Cox, who plays an old Russian operative that is just a step behind Urban and Malkovich, which is still a huge complement. 

But I shouldn’t let Willis get lost in the mix, his role as Moses is possibly his best since Die Hard and works as a personal statement to the action film industry, saying that the old action buff’s like Willis aren’t completely lost in the mix of our Skin Diesel’s and Taylor Vampires of today’s youthful action flicks (or as I call them, pieces of shit). To me, this film acts as a statement that old heroes like Willis and Freeman and Malkovich aren’t obsolete but still very viable options to make a quality action film. It also seems a bit like passing the torch from Willis to Urban, which I’m certainly okay with given his performance in this film.

If I wanted to nitpick with this film, I would. And I certainly could, the ending leaves a few questions unanswered and goes for a cliché instead. It also rushes the relationship between Frank and Sarah quite a bit and softens the cold reality of his life, but this comes at the cost of the intense action blended with great comedy so I don’t really miss it. Overall, that’s about all I could complain about and it’s up against so much more positive that I think this film is already in the running for my favorite movie of the year. It’s certainly a must-see and will definitely be a DVD buy.

4.5 out of 5 stars