(2012-04-26 21:42:39)

red - it's now my favorite colour

This review is from: Red Blu-ray (Movie-Only Edition) (Blu-ray) since getting it on blu a couple of days ago, made have to purchase another copy as mine is just about worn out ( viewed it 3 times already ).loved this movie to the max, get it, you won't be sorry.visually great with good audio, even if it isn't dts loss-less quality.my house rocked with the volume turned way way up.hmmmm, gotta go, have to watch it again...

(2012-04-26 08:57:29)

Retirement can be a nightmare

Retirement sucks, as anyone can tell you. For former black-ops CIA agents, the inactivity would drive a person insane. Bruce Willis (Frank Moses) is suffering from that insanity. He's a loner, his house lacking all the essential necessities to make it a home, and he's bored out of his mind. He doesn't know how to blend into the neighborhood, pitifully viewing the landscape for what is expected. His desperation, his loneliness, and the inactivity of retirement leads him to tear up his retirement check and call an ever patient, equally lonely customer service agent in Kansas City. The conversations with Sarah (Parker) are the highlight of his month and, through these conversations, he attempts to become more 'normal'. Someone should tell Frank that a man reading a romance novel is not considered 'normal'.This retirement that eats at Frank's nerves is shattered when a hit squad attacks his house in the middle of the night. Frank, as skilled as ever, kills the assassins. Decades of training leads him to believe they have tapped his phone lines, and he's off to Kansas to save his phone buddy Sarah. Her reluctance to be saved (imagine someone you've only ever spoken to being in your home when you come back from an excrutiatingly boring date!) causes Frank to kidnap her. Sarah goes on a wild ride with Frank while he attempts to discover who is trying to kill him and why. He travels cross country to find the members of his old black ops team, who are all equally retired and bored to death. Meanwhile, the viewer discovers the CIA is the machine behind the attempt on Frank's life.Morgan Freeman (Joe Black) is at his suave self, living in a retirement community and suffering from stage 4 cancer. John Malkovich (LSD paranoid Marvin) hides in tunnels and carries a stuffed pig under his arm. Helen Mirren proves that mature women can be sexy carrying a high powered rifle,and arranging flowers in a Better Homes and Garden style home. Her comment about taking an 'odd job on the side' still makes me laugh.This is an all-star cast of superb actors that deliver an action-packed, fast paced, comedic, and highly entertaining film. The twists and turns are thrilling. I loved every moment of it and it proves that even the retirees have a magnetic bit of life still left in them.

(2012-04-20 06:49:50)

Totally Red

How on earth do these ex-CIA agents fit into normal life ? Their idea of friendship,family life, dating and other every activities are out of sync amidst this unnecessary business of getting old. To make matters bad the side they have been on is trying to get them or is someone else putting them up to it ? One thing for sure they couldn't have picked a better cast to play these characters. A very fun film to see.

Colin George

(2012-04-19 18:52:42)

Reclining Extremely Disappointed

"Red" is bland. Jilting its vibrant namesake, director RobertSchwentke's pallid comic book movie is about as exciting as a grayscalerainbow. It's a self-celebratory slog and one of the longest hour andfifty minutes I've spent at the movies this year. In my defense, itstrailer was a calculated work of CIA-level deception—each moment isexpertly chosen to give false impression that the whole is mindlessfun. But mindless fun is only half right.There's next to nothing to say about a film this unremittingly boring.I'd stop just short of calling it a failure, but the most incrediblething about "Red" is that such a lackluster script attracted suchhigh-profile talent.The cast, including Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, HelenMirren, and Mary Louis-Parker, along with Karl Urban, Brian Cox andRichard Dreyfuss, speaks for itself. That's part of the problem. "Red"relies too heavily on big names to make the material pop rather thandirectly addressing the many problems with its confusing, amorphousscreenplay. Surely it seemed like a pretty safe conclusion—I'm assurprised as anyone that a film this stacked could be so completelydevoid of personality.Then there's the not-so-insignificant fact that our leading man is themost uninteresting person in the entire film. Black ops superhero FrankMoses never lives up to his reputation— pity Willis doesn't supply hisown. His character is meant to be a "romantic" at heart, but hisrelationship with dopey civilian Sarah Ross is just as unconvincing.Moses isn't a compelling protagonist—and he's shown up repeatedly.First by Malkovich as an LSD-warped CIA retiree, but also by Freeman,who is in the film for maybe a combined ten minutes.I'm not gunning for Bruce, though. "Red" is an amalgam of creativefailures in which his is the very least offensive. It was never goingto be a great film given the inept writing of Jon and Erich Hoeber,though under Schwentke's direction it isn't even passable. He attemptsto pawn "Red" off as disposable entertainment, but reneges on the'entertainment' part. It's the type of movie that squeaks by on a slowweekend, but would have been justly ignored had it been released threemonths ago.Even its music is egregious. Not since Soderbergh's "The Informant!"has a film been so tonally altered through soundtrack and score.Composer Christophe Beck imbues each languid scene with a false senseof energy—be it bouncy, comedic accompaniment or nondescript actionorchestral—but he fails to make a case for them. In fact, his musicunderscores the dichotomy between sound and sight; he makes us acutelyaware of what we should be feeling, but aren't.Collectively, "Red" is one massive miscalculation: criminally overlongand underwhelming given the caliber of talent on hand. There's noreason why this shouldn't have offered the same breezy fun as "TheLosers" and "Knight and Day" did earlier this year, flawed though theywere. Schwentke attempts to mend a Humpty Dumpty script by infusing itwith style and enunciating its humor, but the former comes off asgimmicky and the latter is a series of embarrassing air balls. Jokeupon joke was met with stifling silence from the crowd."Red" is one of the most colorless films in recent memory. In it, theacronym 'R-E-D' stands for "Retired; Extremely Dangerous," but I'vecome up with an abbreviation that far better describes the experience:"Reclining; Extremely Disappointed."

Chris Bumbray

(2012-04-09 05:22:09)

Laced with enough laughs to make this work as both an action ride, and a comedy. Mirren and Malkovich steal the show.

Ajarn_Cole

(2012-04-08 12:58:57)

Once I saw the all star cast....

I knew this movie was going to be good once I saw all the big players,but DANG! It simply blew me away! Great action with comedy in just theright places. I was on the roller-coaster in the 1st few minutes androde it all the way home.While I've pretty much always been a fan of Bruce Willis, MorganFreeman rides in my Top 5 list of Actors. He certainly keeps in thattop 5 list in this movie.And two other huge numbers, Dame Helen Mirren and John Malkovich! WOW!Both of these top-notch actors continue like gang-busters, again,holding true to their ratings as great entertainers of the silverscreen.Totally one of the best movies of 2010.

Robert Roten

(2012-04-03 21:28:03)

This is a case of sheer quality and quantity of acting talent coming to the rescue of a wayward film.

(2012-04-03 04:39:54)

Lots of Excitement

This review is from: Red (Special Edition) (DVD) I saw this movie in the movie theater and had to have a copy. I will watch it with some friends who haven't seen it. I normally do not see movies with lots of violence, but really enjoyed this very clever movie. Lots of twists and turns to make it interesting.

freeblog24

(2012-04-02 18:44:57)

RED = Really Extremely Disappointing....

What a disappointment! I still try to wrap my head around the fact thata director (Robert Schwentke) who has great actors like Bruce Willis,Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren and a sufficient budgetat his disposal is able to produce such an utterly crap..Pardon myfrench!! So what went wrong? I dare to say almost everything: Stiff andlifeless acting, lame jokes and a horrible soundtrack. If you watchedthe trailer then you have already seen the best parts! I highly doubtthat anyone with a brain is able to enjoy the story let alone the wholemovie. Directing a movie isn't an easy thing to do and that is one ofthe reasons why there are only a few people on this planet who are ableto master this craft. Clearly Robert Schwentke isn't one of them!

oneguyrambling

(2012-04-02 03:23:46)

Crack a joke, snap a neck. Lament the state of the world. Wonder why the kids don't call. It's hard being a retired assassin.

When bad guys try to X Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) for no apparentreason he takes off, pausing only to gather up his call centre operatorpossible girlfriend Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker) who he has never metbefore he starts to conduct his own private investigation.Despite some initial reluctance from Sarah at being apparently heldhostage by a bald 50ish guy who might pose her significant threat theduo move quickly in that cinematic way and uncover a conspiracy thatmight go all the way to the top – all in a few days.Along the way it becomes evident that Frank wasn't a lone target, infact someone is systematically offing many retired secret serviceagents – all now classified RED Retired Extremely Dangerous – so Franksets about notifying those still alive to see if they can help.In quick time the obviously paranoid, presumed dead, off the gridshut-in Marvin (John Malkovich) comes on board, as does Joe (MorganFreeman) who is battling cancer and leaves his retirement homecushiness to help.More help comes in latter stages in the form of Victoria (Helen Mirren)and an unlikely ally in Ivan the Russian – apparently all Russians arecalled Ivan.Karl Urban is secret service guy William Cooper charged with trackingdown these elderly loose cannons, and Richard Dreyfuss makes a cameo asa man with all the answers.What follows is a quite enjoyable but admittedly formulaicaction-comedy with maximum damage and minimal good-guy casualties. Itis one of those films where you have to laugh when someone explodes asit is all so ludicrous.The good guys smile and crack jokes as they make hundreds of childrenorphans and the headline cast of guys more familiar holding awardsinstead of automatic weapons all seem to have a bit of a laugh layingwaste to hundreds of fit young crack troops.Despite the subject matter and head count this is all quite breezy,light and entertaining, with chuckles and explosions favoured overlogic and realism.At the conclusion of the film I wondered if this would be at allentertaining had it featured a bunch of young heavily muscledprotagonists, then I answered my question pretty quickly when Irealized this is The Losers Part 2, only set some 40 years on from theoriginal.I only the thought The Losers was so-so. I think Red would bemarginally better if it had a cast of young 'uns but not that much, SoI guess at least part of the enjoyment was to found through theperverse pleasure of making broken hip jokes each time one of the starsthrew themselves around or as Helen Mirren's floppy arm skin wobbled asshe blazed away with a massive machine gun at people a third her age.The only significant downside is that for some reason one of the castneeded to find luuuuurrrrvve, hence the annoying Frank and Sarahsubplot where she is supposed to go gooey as a guy who could be herDad's golfing buddy kills another crack soldier with his bare wrinkledhands.If you miss seeing Red it is fair to say there will hardly be a massivegap in your life – but at the same time this is an enjoyable couple ofhours and it is fun to see some of the senior cits get a chance to makea few guilt free kills.Final Rating – 7.5 / 10. Kill a young bloke, have a cup of tea. Killanother young bloke, take a nap. Crack a joke, snap a neck. Lament thestate of the world. Wonder why the kids don't call – Oh yes, you killedthem. It's hard being a retired assassin.

Dana Stevens

(2012-03-30 04:56:21)

Though the actors are all, in theory, welcome company, this ensemble never really gels.

lexcooper

(2012-03-29 09:29:46)

Red: The Film

This is a spoiler...Spoiler's alert....When it comes down to it, this movie shows the best of each actor.Morgen Freeman, Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, and thelovely...bum dumb dumb dumb dumb DUMB!...Rebecca Pidgeon andMary-Louise Parker! Though Pidgeon is a bit of an ass...and Parker is afox style hotness in the film.But no matter the preliminary understanding of this film...it hits ALLthe high marks of a class-A rocker/man-kind/violent film...Watch it! Make'em make a sequel! And With Freeman! And All The TwistingTurning Spins in the Story Line!!! Just Watch It... you will agree...

Roger Tennis

(2012-03-28 18:24:05)

A visually explosive film that leaves little time to catch your breath.

Ben Gook

(2012-03-28 07:59:43)

RED offers cheap thrills and a few nice gags. It could have been more than that, but the appetite for this stuff is insatiable.

Jack Gattanella

(2012-03-27 14:28:57)

unapologetic fun, with its share of flaws and lots of charm from its stars

Red is based on a graphic novel by the great comic book author WarrenEllis. To say that his first adaptation to screen isn't like the bookvery much might be an understatement (I've yet to read it, but it'smissing things like, say, the ensemble, and much of the humor). Butthis isn't always a terrible thing, if the director's intentions are inthe right place. For the movie of Red (or RED, with each letter comingout to be some kind of CIA thing), it's meant to be a romp with agingaction stars and the gifted actors who are above 50. It says a lot ofthe faith in a project- and the durability of its players- when theyoungin' in the group is Bruce Willis (not counting Mary Louise Parker,who is really just along for the ride). And all of the actors, almostdespite the silly nature of the script at times, are game for what'sdoing in a story of CIA operatives brought back into the game ofthings.Frank Moses is living low in a setting not unlike the one Willis was inin the Whole Nine Yard movies. He finds one night, however, that asmall militia is at his house at night and opens fire. Why is hetargeted? What about other operatives like the in-old-age-home Joe(Morgan Freeman), or the stay-at-home lovely old lady with a bigf***ing gun Victoria (Helen Mirren), or the (putting it lightly)paranoid and (putting it exactly) maniac Marvin (Malkovich). And whatabout this 'average Joe-ette' in Sarah, who is really along for theride as she's been having innocent conversations as Frank's pensionplanner? And why is she sticking with him for so long and getting intoit as much as she does?This last question is the only one that really stuck in my craw. Likeanother spy-on-the-lam-on-the-lover movie this year, Knight and Daywith Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, it is questionable to a fault, evenwith the suspend-disbelief nature of the material, that a woman whodoesn't really want much to do with this guy ends up not only gettinginto the swing of the killing-things but also falling for Frank. Thisis the weak link in a story that should have a believable relationshipat its center, and it doesn't really. I didn't buy the two of themtogether, even as Willis and Parker weren't giving bad performances...not very good either, but acceptable.So what else is there? The other actors, for one. Malkovich plays thisex-CIA guy, living in a bunker and still reeling from theevery-day-for- 11-years acid trip he took and thinking anyone followinghim is out to kill him (and helicopters man!), with total dedicationand raucous insanity. It's a pleasure to see him at work, and it's oneof his most sheerly enjoyable performances, one where he isn't quitecoasting but is knowing what has to be done to take the p**s out of thematerial. Mirren brings some class to the material too and is fine towatch, though she comes in just a wee too late to really make an impactlike Malkovich - her firing lots and lots of guns does make forentertaining viewing. And Freeman, also not quite substantial a role,albeit his final scene in the movie is as good as anything he's everdone (by that I mean his best work, a mixture of hilarity and seriouspathos).The action goes at a brisk and cool pace, and there's a bad-ass stand-off between Malkovich and a bunch of thugs in a docking station (sure,not believable, but it's funny, that's what counts here). The directorSchwentke does go overboard with the music- it's goofy, TV style- and,again, the main romance doesn't quite click. Everything else is good,solid escapism, with well-choreographed fights such as one betweenWillis and Karl Urban that has a bit of adrenaline to go a long way,and likable 'serious' actors getting to have some fun.

(2012-03-26 16:20:37)

Holey Moses this is fun

Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) retired form the CIA is just trying to make time over the phone with Sarah Ross (Mary-Louise Parker) when to his chagrin he finds he is the target of unfinished business and anyone he likes may be dispatched along with himself. Now he must find the culprits or cabal that is out to depose of him and a hand full of other CIA retirees known as RED's (Retired and Extremely Dangerous) this will require getting the band back together.Watch and have fun as the impossible becomes possible and you cannot help saying "Stay in the car". Of course Bruce Willis played in a lot of action shoot-um-up movies but Helen Mirren may soon surpass him. I know the movie is not unique but who cares? It is just fun to want them act it out.

(2012-03-26 01:54:59)

DECEPTIVE TACTIC! (re: movie only edition)

This is an insult, it really is. If there was no DVD of Red out there, and no special edition with everything, then ok, maybe they get away with this. But to deliberately put out this hacked version and not make it PAINFULLY OBVIOUS what you are getting...that is just low. I have no problem with the idea of having tiered levels of pricing for what you get (though I have to question the wisdom for everybody of having say, 3 different Blu Ray sku's for toy story 3), and even lo-res audio would be ok if it is CLEAR what you are getting...if you were being given an informed choice. And if the ONLY difference was audio, then you'd make an informed decision vs. the special edition, but no, it appears that its the other stuff that differentiates the two versions. It's just obviously and intentionally deceptive. My goodness, people who opt for Blu-Ray vs DVD want the whole deal for crying out loud...deceptive I tell ya!

estebangonzalez10

(2012-03-25 04:04:25)

Red Card for RED

¨He got old. Then some thumb-sucker came along and tagged him RED:Retired, Extremely Dangerous.¨ Robert Schwentke (The Time Traveler'sWife, and Flightplan) had the privilege of directing a talented castincluding Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker, Helen Mirren, JohnMalkovich, Morgan Freeman, Brian Cox, Karl Urban, and Richard Dreyfuss.A lot of big names for the latest adaptation of the DC Comic graphicnovel written by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner. One would expectnothing could go wrong with a movie with such great star power, but Iwas disappointed with this lightly entertaining comedy slash actionflick. Red suffers from a poorly adapted screenplay written by Jon andErich Hoeber (the guys who brought us one of the worst films of 2009:Whiteout). The plot is really bad, and the actors do the best they canin order to save the film. There are some funny moments (but far toofew) thanks to the talent from the entire cast that save the movie fromfalling into horrible territory. John Malkovich gives a very comedicand surprising performance, but unfortunately he doesn't get enoughscreen time to save the movie. The rest of the cast give goodperformances, but they are far from memorable. The chemistry betweenBruce Willis and Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds) is pretty decent, althoughnothing we haven't seen before. I really expected this movie would havea lot more funnier moments, but the screenplay failed to help out thegreat cast. Red could have been much better if the producers would havetaken more time in finding better screenwriters. I just felt this moviewas like an All-Star team without a good coach to help them win thechampionship. With a better plot, Red would have been a great andmemorable movie.Bruce Willis is Frank Moses, a former CIA agent who is now retired andhaving a difficult time making the transition. The only thing thatseems to keep him going is when he gets to speak over the phone withhis government pension representative, Sarah Ross (Mary-Louise Parker).Her life doesn't seem all that exciting either, and she spends her daysworking and reading sexy spy novels. Sarah and Frank spend a lot oftime on the phone discussing their boring and lonely lives withouthaving ever met, but they seem to enjoy each other. Their dailyroutines will change all of a sudden when someone puts a hit on Frankand tries killing him. Frank might be old, but he's still got game. Hemanages to elude the dozen of assassins that are sent to his home anddecides to give Sarah a visit in Kansas City guessing she might be indanger as well. Frank will need some help in order to discover who isafter him so he decides to get his old CIA team back together: MarvinBoggs (John Malkovich), Victoria (Helen Mirren), and Joe Matheson(Morgan Freeman). They are all more than happy to get back in actionsince they all seem to have difficulties adapting to their retireelives. Together they begin delving into the past in search for clues,while at the same time they have to face the young CIA agent who isafter them: William Cooper (Karl Urban). Richard Dreyfuss, Brian Cox,and Julian McMahon also have smaller roles in the film.I really wished this movie would have been funnier considering thetalented cast. Malkovich is by far the funniest one in the film; I'veseen Willis in better roles; Freeman doesn't add anything to the story;Urban being one of the younger actors proved he has what it takes tostand next to these A-list actors; Louise-Parker was pretty funny inthis movie, but she is way better in Weeds; and Helen Mirren alwaysbrings her A game to the table. I didn't have a problem with theperformances, but I just wished they would have done a better job withthe plot and the screenplay. This is one of those movies that lookshilarious in the trailers, but then you discover it isn't actually thatfunny when sitting through the 100 minute film. Red is not terrible. Iactually had a decent time watching it, but it is just lightentertainment I wouldn't consider recommending it or watching it overagain. The movie did give me a nostalgic feeling seeing how so many ofthese actors are actually close to their retirement, but they stillhave the talent if given the right script to work with. I am a hugeBruce Willis fan, but I have to admit John Malkovich stole each scenehe was in. Richard Dreyfuss and Brian Cox both have small parts in thismovie, but they are really funny in it as well. Seeing these brilliantactors working together is the highlight of the film, but they shouldhave brought in some talented screenwriters as well.http://estebueno10.blogspot.com/

Keith Uhlich

(2012-03-24 23:45:34)

There's fun to be had watching Willis and Parker banter, and listening to Malkovich toss off arrhythmically timed one-liners.

(2012-03-24 15:06:05)

Lethal Old Men

Red is a pretty fun ride from start to finish. It features a great cast, including Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Mary-Louise Parker, Richard Dreyfuss, Ernest Borgnine, Brian Cox and Karl Urban. The Expendables is another movie that came out this year with a huge cast, but I never would have thought that these older folks would make for a better action movie. The humor, which works a little over 50% of the time, and the strong cast are what really makes Red tick. Some of the action scenes are interesting, like when Bruce Willis gets out of a moving car and starts shooting without missing a beat, while others are rather bland. The story felt flat and simple, yet at the same time, all over the place. Still, there is no doubt that for an early fall release, Red proves itself better than most of the average films I've seen this summer.