There’s more to the fun of “Red” than Helen Mirren firing away like a madman with a machine gun. It’s an action movie not afraid to flash its AARP card, which makes its rather typical action and plot feel a lot fresher than it probably is. With Bruce Willis finally embracing his age, rather than doing movie after movie that’s one “yippee-ki-yay” away from complete implausibility, it’s a nice change of pace for the action star that could signal better days ahead.
As Frank Moses, the retired and extremely dangerous (hence the acronym RED) former CIA agent, Willis is having a rough time adjusting to life after his time in black-ops. He’s trying to do the whole suburban thing, but the only thing that gives him real joy is chatting with Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker), a federal pension phone customer service representative. Of course, at 55, main street Americans only wish they could be receiving retirement benefits as opposed to unemployment benefits.
But whatever normalcy he built in suburbia is shattered as he’s drawn back into the bullet-ridden world by an attempt on his life. Frank discovers that thanks to being part of a Guatemalan mission back in the ’80s, he’s being targeted for death. Gathering up a gang of other Baby Boomers including the incredibly paranoid conspiracy theorist Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich), Frank’s terminally ill mentor Joe Matheson (Morgan Freeman), and Victoria (Helen Mirren), a former assassin with class and grace. Yet the best part of all is that Frank brings Sarah, oblivious to the perils of the, along for the ride.
The trigger-happy travelogue through the United States is a wild romp that excites and entertains at surprisingly high octane and high thrills. At 110 minutes, the premise ages quickly and begins to drag a little bit. Yet the entertainment is always solid as the bullets fly and bombs explode, even as the trek through the plot gets a little … dare I say it, old. But it has a plot, and that’s more than I can say for most action movies nowadays. B / 
Marshall and the Movies 
I thought Morgan Freeman was useless in this film. Come to think of it, there was not much that I enjoyed about this film. The only exception would be the Mirren/Cox arc.
It’s a little low-brow, but that didn’t stop me from really enjoying it. But I didn’t expect much, so exceeding expectations wasn’t exactly challenging.
I enjoyed this one, too, glad you find the humor in this, Marshall. The draw for me was Mirren (and that machine gun) but all the actors were fun to watch as well. Malkovich was over the top but then again that’s what they hired him for 😀
That’s what Malkovich is best at doing and should be doing – no more Oscar bait performances like the off-color horse trainer in “Secretariat” please! Foul mouthed and paranoid is the only way to go when it comes to Malkovich!
It might be rather shallow of me, but RED was probably one of my films of the year.
Yup, it’s definitely shallow of me.
Nonsense, it’s never shallow to like what you like! Guilty pleasures are one of the many things that make moviewatching worthwhile!