Movie Review: Red

Red
Earlier this year a movie was released based on a DC property. It was an action movie that told the story of a number of special operations forces who got betrayed by the US government and now are out to clear their names of all wrongdoings, and to kill the man who ordered their deaths. Not so long ago a movie was released based on a DC property about an ex-CIA agent who has a kill order placed on him by the US government because… well, there wasn’t really any good reason. The former movie was the entertaining, but forgettable, Losers and the latter was the entertaining, but much less forgettable, Red.

Now, bear in mind, I liked Losers quite a bit, but I freely admit a lot of that comes from my fondness for the source material (which is far superior). At the end of the day, though, it was a run-of-the-mill actioner with very little to set it apart (though destroying the jet with a motorcycle was pretty cool). Red, for all intents and purposes, is in the exact same situation, except it has two things going for it that Losers didn’t: Helen Mirren and John Malkovich.

Of the two Malkovich is the far more bombastic character; being subjected to daily doses of LCD by the CIA for eleven years can have that effect. He gets most of the best lines and the laugh-out-loud moments of the movies. You will either find him exceedingly irritating or wildly amusing. I suspect there isn’t much middle ground.

Helen Mirren’s character, though, is the one that interested me. Far too often hitmen (or women) are portrayed either as coldly-professional angst-muffins (see: Jason Bourne or the current Bond), or homicidal psychopaths. It’s pretty rare these days to see an assassin who is both at peace with what they do, but able to have a normal life outside of the job. Helen Mirren has that character here. Equally at home having ‘girl talk’ with Red’s resident damsel-in-distress, Mary-Louise Parker, or manning a mounted 50-caliber machine gun, Mirren is a likeable and engaging character. She steals pretty much any scene she’s in (yes, even the ones with insane Malkovich in them).

Of course that’s not to discount Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman – both of whom are on top of their game, but don’t seem to be doing anything particularly new here – and nor does Richard Dreyfuss (in a surprising role), but there’s nothing here for any of those named that puts them apart from any number of other films they’ve done (okay, maybe Dreyfuss is a bit against type). They all play the weary ex-operative roles very well, but that may well be because they’ve done that role a few times before.

If I haven’t talked about the story it’s because you already know the story, and can probably even recite each plot twist before it happens simply by reading the plot summary on IMDB. It’s a by-the-number affair executed about as well as a movie of this type can be. There’s good action sequences, particularly in the dock yard (which, incidentally, is also where Loser’s best sequences come into play, as well). The movie knows when to embrace its own absurdity, such as Malkovich facing down a middle-aged woman wielding an RPG, and when to play it straight. Sure it only gives a small nod to the source material (Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, Brian Cox, Richard Dreyfuss and John Malkovich wouldn’t have roles in the film otherwise), but it’s a fun popcorn movie that’s worth relaxing to for an hour and a half.