Red
Red, 2010, USA
No worries: I’m still working on my current project! But I’m also watching “new” movies as well.
Part of being a broke student doing a movie blog is compromise. And being willing to watch whatever enters the house. My dad went out to rent movies last night and he came back home with Red. I Googled it, saw that it got halfway decent reviews, and watched it with my parents.
Within the first ten minutes, we all realized that a poor choice was made. It was ridiculous and really, really stupid. Frank (Bruce Willis) is a retired CIA agent who has a bit of a crush on Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker), the call centre employee he talks to on the phone. Unfortunately, his life is in danger, so when he goes to visit her, he ends up kidnapping her. Together, they go out in search of his old CIA buddies (Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren and John Malkovich) in order to figure out just what is going on.
It was billed as an “action comedy”, but it wasn’t all that funny. I rolled my eyes more than I laughed. If there’s a scene where a character uses a gun like a baseball bat to hit a grenade, I just can’t take it seriously. Many of the laughs in the room came from commentary on the movie. It was very easy to make fun of it.
Also, Mirren played a contract killer. She’s just too lovely to be believable in such a role. In fact, all of the actors in this movie could do better. I don’t know why any of them (other than Bruce Willis) signed up for this pile of crap. But, apparently a sequel is being written. Joy.
The one thing I did appreciate is that the movie offered roles to older actors. Many older actors, especially female actors have difficulty finding roles that aren’t the “mother” or “grandmother” type of role. I do respect that this movie was about retired individuals being forced to solve a mystery and protect themselves, and that they were all in good shape and able to do stunts. This sort of role does not come up often, obviously. The movie had potential, but it was just stupid and poorly written. I do hope that it shows Hollywood that older female actors can be more than just mothers.
At least I didn’t see this movie in theatres. Wasting $4.00 and two hours of your life is forgivable, but wasting $25 on this movie would have been quite painful.
I think a lot of the actors signed up for it because it was a piece of fluff entertainment, and I got the feeling they had fun making it. Mirren especially; when was the last time she was allowed to wear combat boots and fire machine guns? I’m fairly sure that was part of the appeal. Why there’s a sequel, though, I have no idea.
Oh, and to answer your tweet, there are actually 25 films with the title Red, according to IMDb. And that’s just exact titles. Who knew it was so popular?
@Copper/TPWNN
That is true. Mirren tends to do very serious movies, and I’m sure they would be emotionally draining. Shooting a machine gun would be a welcome break from playing queens.
25?! Holy crap. Apparently calling your movie “Red” is a fad.
@Jennifer
Exactly. It’s probably her version of a relaxing workday.
And apparently it is. I wonder if that holds for all colours. Maybe that’s something to look into. 25 can’t be a coincidence, there’s got to be something behind that.
Don’t expect this film to change the history of all films, but expect it to exceed in entertainment. If you give it a chance, you won’t be disappointed. It’s definitely a Friday night flick, something that is easily enjoyed.
@Piotr
I watched it on a Friday night and I didn’t like it one bit. Haha!