Red - 2010

R.E.D. stands for "Retired - Extremely Dangerous", and it is the movie adaptation of a comic book. The plot centers around a retired group of CIA operatives who have to band together and fight against forces trying to kill them.

The movie starts with a rather brilliant shot describing in about a second the character of Frank Moses, played by the incomparable Bruce Willis. Bruce is at his best when he's a badass, and Moses is no exception.

The story starts simply enough, albeit kinda slow paced for an action movie. Moses leads a life built on a rather boring routine. One of those routines involve his regularly calling Sarah Moss, the lady in charge of his pension. Moss, played to perfection by "Weeds" star Mary-Louise Parker, sits in her cubicle, bored out of her skull wishing herself into other, exciting locations pinned up on the walls.

That is all about to change whether she likes it or not. (And it's clear she's gonna kinda like it.)

When Frank discovers that he has become a target for obliteration, he "rescues" Sarah from her hum-drum existence as they go on the run to figure out what is going on.

This involves rounding up the old gang. There's Joe (Morgan Freeman), an 80 year old nursing home resident living with stage four liver cancer. There's the LSD-tested-paranoid-weapon-happy Marvin, a role that John Malkovich sinks his teeth into with all his brilliantly weird glee. There's also Victoria, a beautiful but deadly assassin played by the brilliant Helen Mirren.

Sure, with this cast you'd expect more of a drama with Oscars in its eyes than an action movie based on a comic book. That's probably what makes this action movie even more fun. That it is based on retirees who many movies might be tempted to put into stereotypical boxes even more so.

The actors themselves wring every bit of joy they can out of these atypical characters, and the smart script treats them with the respect they so rightfully earn. You kinda just have to root for them no matter how nefariously they behave.

It's a movie where the good guys are bad, the bad guys are good and the balance of which threatens to tip with each explosion.

Have I mentioned there are a bunch of those?

The weakest part of the movie is the beginning, where the setup seems to trudge along a little more indulgently than the genre typically allows. Looking back I'm not sure where I would advise screenwriters Jon and Erich Hoeber to trim the fat, and God love em they didn't dally beyond those first few minutes that seemed to drag.

As soon as the first bullet was fired, it was right on pace thereafter.

Director Robert Schwentker paid great homage to the source material with a highly visual comic book/graphic novel approach in shots and editing. He and the Hoebers really drove home the "show but don't tell" theory behind filmmaking in often understated ways.

No, Red isn't likely to win any Oscars. But if you want a fun way to spend an evening watching things blow up and "old folks" kick ass - it might just be the movie for you.

Acting - 5
Writing - 4
Direction - 4
Overall - 4.3