I love action movies. The running, jumping, car chases, explosions, the villain, the hero, the incredibly epic (or epically bad) banter between the two regularly makes for good entertainment. Even though many people drop the action genre to the side calling it nonsense and mindless I think it is an art. A good action film is not just about the things listed above but about how it all comes together into a form realistic enough to suspend your disbelief but not abuse it, rip it to shreds, walk all over it, and call it “caca head”.
Bruce Willis happens to be one of the best action stars out there. Over his 30 year career he has managed to play some of the most awesome and memorable characters in film including John McClane of the Die Hard movies, Butch Collide in Pulp Fiction, Korben Dallas in The Fifth Element, and many others in between. I am not saying he hasn’t done any wrongs there’s Striking Distance, The Color of Night, and The Whole Nine (and Ten) Yards just to name a few but for him the hits far out weigh the misses.
This weekend he has managed to add another memorable action filled opus to his outstanding career kicking, punching and shooting along side some of Hollywood’s elite.
Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) is a retired black-op agent who is bored with his mundane life. He doesn’t have anything to do besides menial tasks and finding reasons to talk to his pension rep Sarah Ross (Mary-Louise Parker) who he is infatuated with. One day his quiet life is abruptly interrupted by an assassination attempt. To find out who is trying to kill him and why he puts together his old team Joe Matheson (Morgan Freeman), Martin Boggs (John Malkovich), Victoria (Helen Mirren), and an old enemy who has become a friend Ivan Simanov (Brian Cox).
RED is the newest film adapted from a graphic novel by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner. I learned this months ago but many people in the audience were clearly surprised when the DC logo came on screen. There were many hushed whispers of “what?” and “really?!” that all sounded as if the viewer now dreaded the film. This can easily be understood based on the not so good comic/graphic novel to film track record. I unfortunately did not read the graphic novel, laziness coupled with poorness kept that from happening, so I can’t do a full comparison but I think now I may step it up and hunt down a copy.
The movie was great filled with fantastic action sequences, great banter, and wicked performances. It was all well done. But after looking at images from the graphic novel it now seems kind of tame.
The graphic novel seems like it may be darker, hyper-violent, and covered with blood splatter. Don’t get me wrong there was lots of violence in the movie, hand to hand combat and gun fights, but it wasn’t brooding or gritty.
This film is well written. The dialogue is filled with witty repartee, good one liners, and snappy comebacks. The plot is complete with no gaping holes or excessive incontinuities. RED also has a beautiful look to it, there is a brightness in the wardrobe, locales, and the post cards that popped up on screen. The cinematography is great which is something that many action flicks seem to forget about.
The cast was amazing of course filled with seasoned actors, Oscar winners, nominees, and all around cool guys in the cast. I have already mentioned Willis, Freeman, Malkovich, Mirren, Cox, and Parker but there was also Ernest Borgnine playing the sharp records keeper, Karl Urban who makes an impressive foe, Richard Dreyfuss who plays an orange tanned bad guy quite well, and Julian McMahon who plays a whiny politician.
The movie play heavily on the age issue; the old versus the young. The movie shows that even though with youth there is strength and agility but, as it says in one of the tag lines, “there’s no substitute for experience”. The youngest person in the main cast in Karl Urban at 38 and goes all the way up the Ernest Borgnine at 93, there is a whole lot of experience in there.
By the end of the movie I only found 2 real problems.
1. There was not enough Mirren and Malkovich in the movie. There characters were interesting and fun. Malkovich was wicked comic relief, every scene he was in was just hilarious. There is also something dignified and awesomely dangerous about Helen Mirren with a gun.
2. Mary-Louise Parker’s wide-eyed disposition was amusing but got tiring and because it was so excessive became really distracting.
Other than that I really don’t have any complaints.
By the end of the movie all those people who were skeptical at the prospect of watching a graphic novel adaptation were pleasantly surprised; they all left the theatre seeming very pleased. RED is one fun, exciting, hilarious movie from beginning to end. I totally recommend seeing it simply because you will have a good time.
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