Slick, Absurd Red an Enjoyable Action Frolic
Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) is lonely. A former black-ops agent for the C.I.A., the only joy he gets in his retirement are his weekly phone calls to government drone Sarah Ross (Mary-Louise Parker) to complain that he hasn’t received his pension checks. The two chat about what’s going on in their humdrum lives and Frank thinks they might actually be hitting it off leading him to plan a trip to Kansas City so they can meet in person, and while he’s nervous (and more than a bit worried about the age difference) he’s still positive he can show her a good time no one else she’s dated ever could have imagined.
Bruce Willis and Mary-Louise Parker in Red © Summit Entertainment
Of course, the good time he had in mind had nothing to do with dodging bullets and government assassins, but after someone high up in the C.I.A. has marked him for death that’s exactly what suddenly happens. Now Frank has to figure out why someone wants him and a few others dead, towing Sarah along as he reunites with former and fellow retired associates Joe (Morgan Freeman), Marvin (John Malkovich) and Victoria (Helen Mirren) in order to sniff out a conspiracy.
Based on the graphic novel by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner, director Robert Schwentke’s (The Time Traveler’s Wife) action-comedy Red is on many levels a totally generic B-movie throwaway. Its plot is razor thin, what happens borders on nonsensical and there are frequent moments where the characters do things that are incomprehensibly silly. From a narrative standpoint Jon and Erich Hoeber’s (Whiteout) is all over the map, credibility stretched so thin it’s sort of astonishing the film sticks together for its entire 111-minute running time.
But it is also a total hoot and I admittedly had a complete blast watching it. It’s frequently funny, everyone in the cast playing things just close enough to the vest that their obvious good time hanging out together still manages to crossover to the audience. The action scenes are directed with energy and flair, and there are plenty of signature moments throughout that managed to bring a big, sloppy smile to my face. In short I had a wonderful time sitting there in the theatre, and although the final product is hugely forgettable the fun I had watching it was anything but.
This wouldn’t have worked with another cast. Part of the joy is watching the likes of Mirren playing such an elegantly matriarchal, yet still cold-blooded, assassin, in observing Malkovich throw himself into the more schizophrenic tendencies of his unhinged munitions expert. While Willis could do this sort of thing in his sleep it’s almost like he’s been re-energized by the opportunity to stand next to Freeman and company while playing out a scene, and one tends to forget that when he’s totally engaged in a part the one-time Die Hard impresario can be a mighty fine comedic presence with an acidic edge continually hinting at danger.
I do wish that the script had a little more weight to it. Having never read the graphic novel, I’m not sure how closely the Hoeber’s script sticks to it. No matter what the answer, the simple truth is that what passes for an intricate government conspiracy and cover-up probably wouldn’t have passed muster as a subplot on “24,” and when the final truths behind who did what when and why it matters are revealed the answers aren’t especially revelatory or for that matter interesting.
No matter. The playfulness is the thing here, and the joy everyone is having pulling this film off at least as far as I was concerned was extremely contagious. From the leads to the supporting players (including a suitably oily Richard Dreyfuss and a stiffly stalwart Karl Urban) everyone is in on the joke, Schwentke delivering moment after moment of absurdist lunacy that held me contentedly captive. The whole movie is a bullet-riddled song and dance, and even when things get more brutal and violent then expected (there’s a great, if preposterous, fight between Willis and Urban where every punch hit me across the face like two-by-four) the film’s tongue somehow still manages to remain firmly in cheek.
The truth is that I should be taking Red to task for a multitude of reasons, but the reality is exactly the opposite. Schwentke’s opus isn’t earth-shattering and it certainly won’t change lives but I still had a great time watching it. It’s a glorious guilty pleasure starring a whole slew of actors who all should know better yet decided to give this one a whirl all the same. I liked it, and for all its faults and shortcomings in the end that’s really the only thing here that truly matters.
Film Rating: êêê (out of 4)
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