RED 2

With Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, Anthony Hopkins, Byung-hun Lee, Catherine Zeta-Jones, David Thewlis

Written by Jon & Erich Hoeber
Directed by Dean Parisot

I eventually caught the first Red on TV and it was enjoyable enough. But I'd never have thought they'd go so far as to do a follow-up.

Willis is back as retired special ops agent Frank Moses who is trying to live the quiet life with his girlfriend (again annoyingly portrayed by Mary-Louise Parker). Both (paranoid nutter) Malkovich and (posh Brit agent) Mirren also return, with some other big names added like Anthony Hopkins (as the villain) and Catherine Zeta-Jones t(rying her best to be a sexy Russian agent, not very successfully in my eyes).
The group of aging former agents get framed and go on the hunt for a nuclear device (an Asian assassin, deadly government agent and other villains on their trail). Zipping around the world from the USA and France to Russia, the comedy is light an silly (amid gunfire, explosions and murder), Parker's grating regular-girl character's addiction to the danger simply awful, but at least Bruce does his thing (very much Die Hard with just a bit more tongue in cheek).

I'd be interested to know if this actually has an older or younger demographic, as nowadays most action movies are too often geared towards the comic book kids rather than an older audience who can absorb the violence a bit more, especially when paired with flippant laughs, making murder a bit too acceptable...

Extra features include a gag reel and deleted scenes.

2 / B
- Paul Blom

0 1 2 3 4 5 6
- A - B - C

A: Multiple Viewing Potential
B: Deserves Another Look
C: Once Should Suffice