Movies: Red

I saw "Red" a few weeks ago.

Heh, that's a great opening line.

But yeah, I went to see it in theaters with Risa. We were in the mood for some light action fare, and it was pretty sparse pickings once we looked at what was playing. The trailers made it look fun enough, so we figured it was worth a shot.

I'm sort of here and there about Bruce Willis. "Die Hard" usually makes up for most failings of his. But it was also a long time ago now. "Surrogates" was pretty weak, his bit roles in "Planet Terror" was nothing special. He's usually pretty busy, but the last thing I remember liking him in was "Sin City", and that was 2005.

But he was not really the scene-stealer of the movie.

That title went to Dame Helen Mirren, who kicked butt all movie long. After playing Queen Elizabeth in "The Queen" a few years ago, she showed that she could also stand her own as a Hollywood action star. Seriously, I could watch her reprise this role all the time. I want to see her versus the Predators now.

The rest of the cast is hit or miss. John Malkovich was quirky and fun, but Morgan Freeman felt like he just mailed it in. Brian Cox was a fun surprise (he's not in any trailers), and Karl Urban was a good foil for the "Red" crew. Mary-Louise Parker was all over the place, but I think that might be because she had Willis to play off of in most of her scenes, and they had no chemistry at all.

The action scenes were fun, the plot was okay, and the laughs were genuine. Red was a good watch, but not a flawless movie. It's based on the comic by Warren Ellis and Cully Hammer, which I haven't read yet, but I'm sure I'll pick it up at some point.