A blend of both action and comedy, Red tells the story of five retired CIA agents who relive their previous adventures and defeat evil once again.
The film mostly caters to an older crowd, sporting a theme that screams, “Just because you’re old doesn’t mean you can’t keep living!” Morgan Freeman’s character, Joe Matheson, is living in a home for the elderly before he joins the adventure. Helen Mirren of The Queen plays a very grandmotherly lady named Victoria, who lives in a nice house and spends her days baking and gardening. Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) receives pension checks and tears them up in order to talk to his crush, played by Mary-Louise Parker, who is responsible for handling issues with government checks. The villain, William Cooper (Karl Urban of The Bourne Supremecy and the last two Lord of the Rings films) even calls Moses “Grandpa” in a fight, right before Moses knocks him across the room with a hard punch.
Inspired by a DC Comics graphic novel by Warren Ellis and Cully Hammer, both the comic and the film are based around Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) fighting and seeking revenge solo, which is unlike the film adaptation: the roles of Mirren, Freeman and John Malkovich (who plays Marvin Boggs) were not included in the comic.
It’s no surprise that Willis, commonly known for being in action flicks such as Die Hard and Sin City, landed the role of Moses in Red, which is filled with action-packed fighting scenes and moments of suspense. His character is a retired black-ops officer who is labeled as R.E.D. (Retired, Extremely Dangerous), the title for which the movie is named after.
However, it is a surprise that Helen Mirren took a role in this film. Mirren, who won an Oscar for her performance in The Queen, is most famous for expertly playing queens and performing in period pieces such as The Last Station and Elizabeth I. Mirren appears to have taken the part of Victoria in Red to fight against her queen stereotype.
The storyline of Red is very basic and the audience can guess the ending in the first five minutes. But this may not be too serious a problem: the cast is incredible, and the film doesn’t fail to entertain.
