Red aka Retired and Extremely Dangerous is based on the DC comic book series or so I believe. I didn’t do much research when wanting to see this film. What attracted me was the cast of actors that starred in it but damn even a cast of great old timers couldn’t save this film from been a snooze fest and over repetitive cliché of a film.
THE STORY is basically about a group of Retired CIA and Black Ops Agents been targeted for assassination because of an mission they were all involved in years ago in Guatemala. The films stars Bruce Willis who plays Frank Moses who escapes assassination from the CIA themselves and has him go around American recruiting old team members involved in Guatemala while also babysitting his girlfriend who he meant over the phone.
You expect the plot to be somewhat interesting even for comic book standards but it’s the same thing seen in films so many times. It has the characters going from one place to another trying to solve the mysteries of who is trying to kill them while been hunted down by CIA agents led by Karl Urban and in the end the outcome and conclusion isn’t as fulfilling as one would hope.
Characters are introduced with no development whatsoever and the main characters themselves are pretty much the same type of characters in team-based films (A-Team, The Losers, etc…) like this that you can’t really care about them. And the film really lacks villains. There are villains but they aren’t really revealed until the last confrontation and its meant to be a twist but that along with the rest of the film just feels rushed.
Its not meant to be taken serious and is meant to be more of a comedy but there’s too many scenes that just feel serious that you can’t decide whether to laugh or not.
The main complaint I’d have with this film is the fact Guatemala is brought up all the time but there is never a flashback to the events mentioned. I feel like the film should’ve started with showing these events along with the characters in their youth so as to develop some connection and emotion as to the whole reason they are involved in it. Other than that the film offers nothing special.
THE ACTING is even more of a disappointment. Bruce Willis comes off too much like his character of John McClain from the Die Hard films. For a guy whose meant to be retired he seems like the type who’d still be in active service. The role doesn’t suit him at all.
Morgan Freeman hardly has screentime in this film and after the one hour mark he’s gone from the plot and story. His character doesn’t really do much and offers nothing to the plot.
John Malkovich is the only one who comes close to be interesting and entertaining to watch but again, his character is one we have seen many times before in such films and he offers nothing new to the table that’s not to say he isn’t the most enjoyable part of the film. He is but it could’ve used a lot more of him. But if I had to decide then in the end I’d say HE WAS THE BEST THING about Red.
Brain Cox also stars in the film and he too while playing a big role in the film isn’t that interesting to watch.
Next to Malkovich, Karl Urban is the only other actor who comes close to have an enjoyable screentime as the serious CIA Agent who cares for his family while also having to serve his country but even then his character and his family aren’t even developed at all and there lies another problem.
They bring in this whole subplot of an family and don’t develop them whatsoever. The film has too many characters whose back stories aren’t even bothered to be explained or explored.
The characters aren’t good enough to care about. No one offers anything interesting. I can’t put it into better context of how to explain it but the performances in this film were just disappointing and boring to watch.
THE ACTION scenes were even more disappointing. The film starts of good but afterwards it’s the same basic layout. A bunch of guys just shooting at one another repeatedly while something happens in the background.
The only action scene that I had any enjoyment of watching in this was the fight between Willis and Urban. Other than that the film again falls short with no tension, emotion or development of characters.
Everything just feels rushed or forced and nothing feels new or original. For an adaptation, this film is just poor, disappointing and not worth the price retail. There’s already talks of a sequel but unless it can spice up and expand upon what was wrong with this one then there is no hope whatsoever for RED 2 been any good.
Overall SCORE: 2/5
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