10/15/10

RED

Well, THAT was the most fun I've had in a movie in a long, long time! This thing is intricately plotted, perfectly photographed, and extremely well cast! Although there was little or no profanity and no sweaty bodies, we did see a lot of gunfire, car chases and blowie uppie stuff. The audience ate it up!

First, let's talk about that cast:
  • Bruce Willis ("Cop Out") is a former CIA black-ops agent, now he's Retired, Extremely Dangerous...get it? He's trying to deal with boredom and inertia, and has taken to calling a particular gal in a call center about a check he keeps insisting never arrived.
  • Mary-Louise Parker ("Weeds") is that gal (see above). She reads bodice-rippers like Love's Savage Fury and dreams of having a manly man come into her life and sweep her away to excitement, passion and exotic locales. She is hilarious!
  • Morgan Freeman ("Invictus") is another retired agent, now relegated to a nursing home where he is dealing with a terminal illness. He too, is bored and lonely; this is NOT the way he expected his life to end.
  • John Malkovich ("Secretariat") is also part of this bunch. He spent a few years being injected with LSD, so his hold on reality is a bit shaky, but he LOVES guns, ammo and explosives! Talk about a loose cannon!
  • Helen Mirren ("The Last Station") isn't quite as retired as her buddies; she admits she still "takes a side job or two." She can wield a machine gun with the best of them and still packs a yen for an agent she had to shoot.
  • Ernest Borgnine ("SpongeBob SquarePants") should have retired years ago, but he's still working in the CIA's top-top-secret archives.
  • Richard Dreyfuss ("My Life in Ruins") is an industrialist who knows WHY a mysterious list was made of people who MUST die.
  • Karl Urban ("Star Trek") is absolutely perfect as a new-generation black-ops agent, every bit as well trained and deadly as his predecessors. I'm always impressed by him.
This terrific film was beautifully directed by Robert Schwentke ("The Time Travelers's Wife"). When every scene is deliciously shot, with guts, glamor and LOTS of giggles, we naturally look to the director. Let's keep an eye out for this guy, okay?