Red
Director: Robert Schwentke
Writer: Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber
Based on: Warren Ellis‘ and Cully Hamner‘s comic
Cast: Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, Brian Cox, Karl Urban, Julian McMahon, Richard Dreyfuss, James Remar
[Here’s my first review.]

Plot:
Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) enjoys his retirement. Most notably, he enjoys his monthly calls to his represntative at his insurance company, Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker). Shortly before he gets the courage to actually see her, though, his CIA-operative past catches up with him: a kill squad comes to his house and levels it pretty much completely. Frank survives, the assassins don’t but now Frank has to get Sarah to safety and then call on the help of his old squad – Joe (Morgan Freeman), Marvin (John Malkovich), Victoria (Helen Mirren) and Ivan (Brian Cox). All the while he’s being hunted by CIA-agent William Cooper (Karl Urban).

Red still is one hell of an entertaining movie. I think I enjoyed it just as much as the first time round.

[SPOILERS]

Okay, first: it still bothers me that Joe had to sacrifice himself – the set-up for that to happen seemed even flimsier this time around. And him being the only black guy just makes it a little more eugh.

But I genuinely loved the characters. All of them, from Cooper to Frank. And I loved the romantic sides of their story as well. Frank and Sarah really are a wonderfully cute couple (the romance novels melt my heart every time). Also, Victoria and Ivan… *sigh*. [And I’m not even in that phase of my cycle.]

But apart from the romance, which is only a sidenote anyway, the movie is just extremely funny. Wonderful quips that are still funny even when you watch it the second time. The postcard transitions. The excellent pacing that pulls you along.

The only thing that could have made the movie any better (apart from Joe not dying) was a cameo by Dwayne Johnson. But even without that, I can’t wait for the next one.

Summarizing: definitely recommended.