25 May 2012

Grenade to the face, chop to the neck, bullet against RPG FUN

I almost gave this just 4 stars, but second-guessed myself and went ahead and gave it 5 stars. RED, is without question, a repeat viewing, non-stop, always interesting, entertainment spectacle. The writing is exactly what you would expect from a cast of Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, Mary-Louise Parker, Rebecca Pidgeon and Richard Dreyfus. It's funny. It's exciting. This is the kind of movie that people beg for everytime they put their money on the table for the movie business to take. People don't want to be disappointed. They don't want to be bored and they want to finish the movie and still be thinking and talking about it. With RED, you get just that.From the opening scenes of Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) reading romance novels and trying to live a normal life, making excuses to talk to an operator at the Government Pension office, despite never having met her, and into the moment where his house is flooded by black ops, you get exactly what RED is about. Fun and Action.Where most movies these days disappoint or bore, RED doesn't do that. It does exactly what you would expect from a movie that puts Bruce Willis where he's most comfortable. It's an action movie that doesn't insult our intelligence. Sure there are some over-the-top things that happen, but most are pheasible or perfectly in place for the movie at hand. RED is a must own because this is what entertainment is all about.

Tarotgal

24 May 2012

Stand back kids, the Grown-ups got it going on

This is absolutely the best movie this year! The Best Actor Award should go to Bruce Willis in the scene concerning Joe. No words spoken or needed-it's all there in his eyes and on his face. What a great ride! Took my boys and everyone had a great time. The audience cheered and applauded, you just don't hear that in many movies anymore. I believe I heard a boo or two in the right places too. Lots of action, not a lot of guts. Good plot with lots of twists and turns. Go see this movie!

junkielee

22 May 2012

Red

I do have no idea this film is another adaption from a comic series,Retired Extremely Dangerous, a group of retired special agents vs. awipe-out scheme. It is highly tantalizing for me to see Dame HelenMirren shooting machine guns in her blonde hair, maybe the trailershould take the blame as it is a bit misleading, the film turns out tobe just another plain comedy with a little piece of action, which isfar from meeting my satisfaction, I don't regret to watch the film, butafter a second afterthought, the film is too mediocre with many detailsworth deeper excavating.The cast is my primary reason to watch the film, however, nothing ispleasantly surprised, John Malkovich is as insane as a scene stealer(whose role is to offer comic elements), Bruce Willis is the onlyaction star, who had undertaken the sole close combat with Karl Urbanin the middle of the film. The loving couple Helen Mirren and Brian Coxserve as sidekicks alone, poor Mary-Louise Parker gave a safeperformance which barely suits her character as the love interest ofBruce. The villain Richard Dreyfuss looks like an older version ofLeonard in THE BIG BANG THEORY. As for Morgan Freeman, he was hardlythere in the film. The film was nominated for the Best Comedy/Musical Film in the GoldenGlobe this year, which had ironically proved how ridiculous the GoldenGlobe could be, even the notorious BURLESQUE and THE TOURIST (2010)also got the nominations in the same category. I must say it is a majorflaw to lose its creditability. Given the fact I don't think highly of this film, I do appreciate theidea of the retired fighting back to get their pride and save theworld. Maybe a possible sequel will have some improvement.

Mr C

22 May 2012

Lame. When will I learn not to trust IMDb ratings?

Really, 8/10 after almost 40 votes? Was I watching the same movie, oris this perhaps what an American audience finds entertaining.I see it referred to as a romantic action comedy.As a comedy, it was barely funny. Perhaps laughable, but nor funny.As a romance, c'mon. Old people?! Romantic? As an action. There was onecool scene where Bruce wills slips out of a moving car to shoot upanother moving car, and other than that is was bang bang bang, guns andflames. Lame action.If you want to waste two hours, watch Red. If you are easilyentertained, watch Red. If you are anything like the majority ofreviewers, watch Red. If you like something with a little substance,don't bother.I really give IMDb ratings too much credit.

DarthVoorhees

20 May 2012

It becomes what it promises it wont be.

I couldn't help but smile when I saw the trailers for RED. The idea ofretired CIA agents struggling to find meaning in a bloodless life isthe stuff of great satire. I like that Willis has the guts to delveinto self parody and I like that the film deals with age in a comedicand yet rooted way. The problem with RED is that it promises to be aparody of the action film and the action character and instead itbecomes a rather boring action film that we have seen hundreds of timesbefore. This film about being over the hill is inhabited by characterswho didn't get the memo.I think the casting of the lead role of Frank Moses could have beendone better. Don't get me wrong I love Bruce Willis and he may be myfavorite of the crop of action stars. The problem though is that BruceWillis is merely playing Bruce Willis. The beginning of the film isinspired. Willis' Moses is bored out of his mind and occupies his timewith mundane chores of suburbia. Seeing Willis' cold blooded killer putout an illuminated Frosty for Christmas is brilliant satire. When thefilm get's going it becomes a boring action film with comedy that seemsstupid. Willis is playing every character he ever played and noinclination of that boredom or aging is incorporated into thisperformance. A pity given that this subplot was done very well byWillis in his film Surrogates. I've seen Willis shoot down bad guysbefore but why not show him shoot down bad guys with a bad back? Whynot show him not getting the same rush from the kill? Moses is back onthe saddle as if he never left it without any time to dust the old girloff and isn't this what we were led to believe RED would be about?Wouldn't it have been a more interesting film had Malkovich and Willistraded roles? Malkovich looks like crap in this film and yet he stillmore or less performs the same action feats as Willis does.I can't fault Bruce Willis for being Bruce Willis because I truly doenjoy him. I somewhat expected this might happen and wasn't really allthat surprised that it did. I thought that the picture might be savedby it's supporting ensemble cast. Malkovich is good but the restaren't. Am I wrong in saying that Morgan Freeman has been reduced tobeing a walking stereotype? I mean this guy has single handedly createdand propped up the modern 'magic Negro' role. Freeman is here to mentorWillis whom he still refers to as kid. Why? Isn't Willis old enough tobe Freeman's counterpart rather than his under? This performance isrung in by Freeman and I have to say it is the worst one he has evergiven. I would kill to see Freeman play a villain. Helen Mirren lookslike she is having a blast but she also is chewing the scenerytremendously. This performance is way too over the top to ever be takenseriously. Sure it's a comedy but comedy stems from some level ofindividual reality. Helen doesn't seem to give any sense of motivationto this character other than she is meant to look sexy(or as sexy asyou might expect an aging Helen Mirren to look) and blow things up.It's kind of funny but not nearly funny enough to warrant cardboard cutout characterization. Brian Cox plays Ivan a former KGB type who joinsthe gang out of mutual respect for each other. Ivan and Moses tradestories and scars and it is revealed that Ivan is Mirren's Victoria'sformer lover. Great! Motivation and conflict playing off of andparodying antiquated Cold War silliness. Mirren uses none of it but Coxdoes and gives a much better performance because of it. Malkovich is myfavorite performance in the film simply because he is having fun but isalso in tune with his character.If the straight action route was the one to be taken than a villain isnecessary and RED doesn't have one. Richard Dreyfuss kind of fills inthe role but he is quickly dispatched. RED doesn't work as a straightaction film without a villain and there are so many amble opportunitiesto create one. Why not have another aged agent serve as a rouge?Malkovich's Martin seems to suggest that the old grudges are stillthere. Wouldn't it be funny to have the entire conflict be based off ofproblems that should have been forgotten years ago. In the end thevillain is the Vice President of the United States and his handlers. Iwas really expecting and hoping for a Cheney parody but alas the filmisn't that clever.RED is a standard action film wrapped in the classic action filmpackage using the classic action film recipe. It has some clevermoments but even the most tedious action films usually do. RED isactually a great trap because it lures us in with the bait of freshnessand I fell for it. The action genre needs a young hero or else Williswill actually have to face his own mortality and age.

19 May 2012

RED

It was a really enjoyable movie. We recommend this movie highly. Excellent fun to escape to.

reneemsm

19 May 2012

meh...

This is one of those movies that isn't necessarily bad, but it reallyisn't what I would call "good". Definitely not something I would watchmore than once. I would say that in general we have pretty lowstandards for movies (as long as it makes us laugh or keeps usinterested, we don't usually read too much into things like some peopledo). But unfortunately this one doesn't even meet those standards.There were definitely a few laughs but in general the acting was reallyforced. The action sequences were laughably fake (I can't even counthow many times we said "oh come on!"). And the story takes FOREVER toget going. Then once it does get going (about an hour into it), westill found ourselves confused about the "who and why". I'm glad thatwe didn't see it in theaters but I do feel like it was still a waste ofthe $5 rental fee. I honestly can't believe it's got a 7 out of 10. I'monly giving it a 6 (my husband suggested 5) because there were a fewlaughs and it was a "different" plot which I do like (instead of the"same old same old" we usually get from Hollywood).

Grassy1

18 May 2012

Best Movie of 2010

I found this movie to be a perfect mix of genres. The action wasn'toverdone like most movies and the comedy couldn't have been bettertimed. Even though the film was centred around a romantic idea itwasn't a romance, more an attempt to lead a normal life. Leaving thismovie more in the action genre than romance.The characters were well casted and really meshed giving the movie areal feel. Bruce as always was a great lead, making you not only wantto know what happens but need to know what happens.The surprises throughout the movie were great and you never knew whatto expect even though the storyline was very similar to a lot of othermovies and you could tell what the end product would be.In conclusion I would say that this movie is a must see, settle in andget ready to laugh as I did.

Guy Lanoue

18 May 2012

Decent Willis vehicle

This film brings nothing new to the genre (old codgers show they stillgot spunk, defined by almost-eternal George Burns in art and in life).I don't however agree with some of the extremely negative reviews. Yes,it may be hard to see great actors like Mirren and Freeman hamming itup, but what the hell, they looked like they were having fun, and weall know that good roles aren't that easy for ageing stars – Mirren canhardly redo Elizabeth, can she? Sure, the thing is full of clichés, andthere are several improbable segues. But we're all supposed to be grownups by now, having seen a gadzillion Bourne type flicks, so we knowthat all spies keep hidey-holes full of weapons, passports and money,so we shouldn't gripe that it's not explained in the film. Just take itas a given for the genre, sit back and enjoy the decent pacing,minimalist script (for once!), sympathetic actors (Mary Louise Parkeris a major scene-stealer), and great casting for the secondary parts(Brian Cox as a shady Russian, Richard Dreyfus as an arms dealer who'schannelling Dick Cheney, Rebecca Pidgeon as a CIA boss dragon lady).It's a Bruce Willis action slash comedy slash rom-com, for heaven'ssake. Judged on its own terms, it's decent, well crafted, and Icertainly didn't feel my time was wasted. Casablanca also started itsmythic journey as a well-made B film. This one won't age as well, ofcourse, since comedies especially topical comedies never do, but fornow its nice to see good actors having fun.

asalimi

17 May 2012

RED stands for Really Entertaining, Dude!

Short n' Sweet: Awesome. I just came back from watching it. Exactly asI was expecting, FUNNY, ACTION, ENTERTAINING. What else you reallyexpect? Honestly, why the hell do we go to movies? Despite our tastes,we expect value for the time and money. Well good news, this one hasboth. I really laughed for the first time after "Burn after reading".Good (but a bit predictable) plot, bunch of shiny stars with goodchemistry and finally if I want to summarized into one word I wouldsay: John Malkovich! He is the ACE in this title. Seeing lady Mirren socomfy behind that gigantic machine gun, was A blast. Highlyrecommended.

bob-690-160029

16 May 2012

Good entertainment

Very entertaining film from start to finish with several good plottwists to keep viewers guessing, mostly light hearted and well acted bythe entire cast with good interaction between the established stars andlesser known newcomers. Action sequences were well performed anddirected in the typical Bruce cheeky grin way, John Malkovitch iswonderfully crazy and has the best bite me moment when he takes out arocket propelled grenade with 1 shot from his enormous handgun. MorganFreeman breezed through his part and remains as smooth as ever, hisexpression was spot on when he asked his nurse to adjust the TV setpicture (she had to bend over) he wasn't interested in the TV pictureat all, wink wink. The ever-so versatile Brian Cox played an amusingRussian diplomat who knew everything about everything and impressed meonce again with his wicked side. I enjoyed every moment and will enjoywatching it again when it is released on DVD.

FlashCallahan

16 May 2012

Did you vacuum in here?

Frank is retired, bored and lonely living off his government pension ina nondescript suburb in an equally nondescript house.The only joy in Frank's life are his calls to the government pensionprocessing centre when he gets to talk to his case worker Sarah.Sarah is as bored and lonely as Frank and marks her conversations withthe unknown Frank and her spy novels as the only things fun in herlife.When something in Frank's past forces Frank back into his old line ofwork and puts an unwitting Sarah in the middle of the intrigue, Frankand Sarah begin a journey into Franks past and the people he used towork with....Even though it has some great self-deprecating performances from theeclectic cast, and it has it's tongue firmly in cheek, 'RED' doesbecome boring at certain times, and the action and fighting seem alittle too fluid and slick.After all, his is supposed to be old school stuff.Willis as always is on top form here, really winking at the camera andriffing on all the tough guy roles he has ever played. No one couldhave done a better job. But Malkovich steals the show as the disjointedpart of the team, and the film has it's best parts when he is in it.The rest of the cast are good, but it would have been nice to have seena little more of them.Even though they are a little too slick, the set pieces are still greatand keep the pace of the film running smoothly.It's a good film, but it does get a little lethargic in places, muchlike the cast.

samangel7

14 May 2012

Watch with the same spirit as you watch cartoons and you will not be disappointed

If you try to make sense of every action in this movie, you will beutterly disappointed. It's definitely not the kind of movie I will takemy whole family to the theater and spend $80 (including pop corns andsoda) on it but for $1 rental, you can't go wrong.But if you like some simple and stupid fun, this is a good movie. Thecast is great. It's a comedy action movie with no real substance or message. I thinkit was well worth the $1 I spent on the rental.I know some reviewers had give this movie a very critical analysis. Ifyou watch movies with that kind of mindset, this movies isn't for you.

14 May 2012

Funnier than you might think

This review is from: Red (Special Edition) (DVD) Violence and explosions are not my thing. That said, this movie has both and it is one the funniest movies I have seen in a while. Definitely a good choice for the action lover who also has a sense of humor.

Rich Cline

13 May 2012

This action-comedy has a wacky tone that's entertaining but never involving.

12 May 2012

Retirement can be a nightmare

Retirement sucks, as anyone can tell you. For former black-ops CIA agents, the inactivity would drive a person insane. Bruce Willis (Frank Moses) is suffering from that insanity. He's a loner, his house lacking all the essential necessities to make it a home, and he's bored out of his mind. He doesn't know how to blend into the neighborhood, pitifully viewing the landscape for what is expected. His desperation, his loneliness, and the inactivity of retirement leads him to tear up his retirement check and call an ever patient, equally lonely customer service agent in Kansas City. The conversations with Sarah (Parker) are the highlight of his month and, through these conversations, he attempts to become more 'normal'. Someone should tell Frank that a man reading a romance novel is not considered 'normal'.This retirement that eats at Frank's nerves is shattered when a hit squad attacks his house in the middle of the night. Frank, as skilled as ever, kills the assassins. Decades of training leads him to believe they have tapped his phone lines, and he's off to Kansas to save his phone buddy Sarah. Her reluctance to be saved (imagine someone you've only ever spoken to being in your home when you come back from an excrutiatingly boring date!) causes Frank to kidnap her. Sarah goes on a wild ride with Frank while he attempts to discover who is trying to kill him and why. He travels cross country to find the members of his old black ops team, who are all equally retired and bored to death. Meanwhile, the viewer discovers the CIA is the machine behind the attempt on Frank's life.Morgan Freeman (Joe Black) is at his suave self, living in a retirement community and suffering from stage 4 cancer. John Malkovich (LSD paranoid Marvin) hides in tunnels and carries a stuffed pig under his arm. Helen Mirren proves that mature women can be sexy carrying a high powered rifle,and arranging flowers in a Better Homes and Garden style home. Her comment about taking an 'odd job on the side' still makes me laugh.This is an all-star cast of superb actors that deliver an action-packed, fast paced, comedic, and highly entertaining film. The twists and turns are thrilling. I loved every moment of it and it proves that even the retirees have a magnetic bit of life still left in them.

10 May 2012

RED

This review is from: Red Blu-ray (Movie-Only Edition) (Blu-ray) My wife and I watched this movie one evening. It turned out to be quite a bit better that we expected. Of course there is a lot of shooting and explosions, at times absolute mayhem.But it was quite a treat to watch this great cast interact with each other. The story was a bit of a stretch, but hey, if it permits the likes of Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, & Helen Miren to work together in an improbable plot, then just sit back and enjoy it.Movies like this are meant to entertain, not have the viewer scrutinize each and every scene for authenticity. It is meant to be an imaginary flick. For the characters to sometimes do the impossible, well, that is what makes this movie a kick to watch.I would recommend this movie to most of my friends and acquaintances. But not to the ones whose expectations aren't realized when belief must be suspended in favor of fiction that involves a lot of noise and mayhem

10 May 2012

Plain and simple entertainment

This review is from: Red (Special Edition) (DVD) RED is my favorite movie of 2010. I didn't know what to expect but since I love Bruce Willis, I gave it a try and am definitely happy I did! The action was artfully balanced with humor (Bruce Willis vacuuming!)as a suspenseful plot unfolds that actually had me on the edge of my seat in spots. Watch for the Karl Urban fight scene and Richard Dreyfuss as a rich sleezeball. Ernest Borgnine rounded out a sparkling cast in a couple of brief appearances. The only disappointment was the limited role of the ever cool, calm, and collected Morgan Freeman but this was was offset wonderfully by John Malkovich's hysterical antics. The RED cast is free of female action figure stereotypes. Both Helen Mirren and Mary-Louise Parker participate fully, each in their own manner, and yet never loose their warmth and femininity. Even the agent who faces off with John Malkovich in one scene is "real". Refreshingly, there is no "sexploitation" in RED.This is a movie the entire family can (and should) watch together. Simply put, it's pure entertainment.

09 May 2012

Bruce Willis is Red Hot as Always!

Another action packed ride from him with plot twists at every corner! I thought the phone romance was sweet, and the fact that he had to abduct her to save her life (while putting it at risk) was also sweet, and crazy! It was a nice and crazy high risk romance, just like the ones she was always reading anyways! I half expected the ending to be her "book", lol. But the movie was top notch,primo actors all around, nice storyline, lots of exploxions and a decent storylines. You can't go wrong with Willis or Freeman! Definitly pick it up if you haven't already, worth the watch!

Drew McWeeny

09 May 2012

One of the most enjoyable things I've seen this year, and I would absolutely recommend it.