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How entertaining? ★★★★☆
Thought provoking? ★★☆☆☆ 21 July 2013
This a movie review of RED 2. |
“Kemosabe, I need you,” Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich) to Frank Moses (Bruce Willis)
Comic book adaptation RED had an all-star cast, had elements of fun, but was ultimately forgettable. RED 2 on the other hand, is a total blast. The action sequences have bone-crunching kinetics, the harshness offset by spry banter and humorous asides.
Opening on a Costco supermarket trip, Frank appears to be settling into the quiet lifestyle a little too much for girlfriend Sarah Ross (Mary-Louise Parker). Her beau wants to wrap her up in metaphorical cotton wool, to shield her from the cavalier attitude to life and death that his former occupation is prone to. And that blasé response to killing has seeped into the fabric of RED 2. There is a gleeful shrug of the shoulders to the huge body count mounting up as we progress. Sarah, much to Franks’ chagrin, is craving risk and adventure and espionage. That comes immediately when Marvin rocks up to spoil the latter’s claimed idyll. At one point Marvin gives relationship advice to Sarah saying that her boyf is a simple creature needing just killing, eating, “sexting”, killing, eating. For all Frank’s vocalised reluctance at entering the fray again, when called upon, he is adroit at leaving a wake of carnage.
Comic book adaptation RED had an all-star cast, had elements of fun, but was ultimately forgettable. RED 2 on the other hand, is a total blast. The action sequences have bone-crunching kinetics, the harshness offset by spry banter and humorous asides.
Opening on a Costco supermarket trip, Frank appears to be settling into the quiet lifestyle a little too much for girlfriend Sarah Ross (Mary-Louise Parker). Her beau wants to wrap her up in metaphorical cotton wool, to shield her from the cavalier attitude to life and death that his former occupation is prone to. And that blasé response to killing has seeped into the fabric of RED 2. There is a gleeful shrug of the shoulders to the huge body count mounting up as we progress. Sarah, much to Franks’ chagrin, is craving risk and adventure and espionage. That comes immediately when Marvin rocks up to spoil the latter’s claimed idyll. At one point Marvin gives relationship advice to Sarah saying that her boyf is a simple creature needing just killing, eating, “sexting”, killing, eating. For all Frank’s vocalised reluctance at entering the fray again, when called upon, he is adroit at leaving a wake of carnage.
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“You’re flagged retired; extremely dangerous,” Government agent
And so Frank is hauled in by the C.I.A. as his name has come up in relation to Project Nightshade, involving a Cold War nuclear plot that has reared its head after 30 years. The interrogation is cut short by a shadowy group, led by Jack Horton (Neal McDonough), who claims he is sanctioned to kill and torture at will. Even though Frank is handcuffed, a stylish melee unfolds, ensuring the audience is fully aware of his lethality. And that is what is so refreshing about the RED films, they are anti the ageist agenda which has seeped so insidiously into popular culture lionising youth, and discarding anyone that hints of middle age and over. RED and RED 2 attempt to redress the balance, demoing how experience is an asset, and that being a pensioner is not an anathema to being a badass; all done with joie de vivre and drollness.
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Frank, Marvin and Sarah are now wanted as nuclear terrorists, and call on the help of Helen Mirren’s no nonsense MI6 human disposal expert, Victoria. Not only are the American and British governments after them, the world’s top assassin Han Cho Bai (Byung-hun Lee) has been hired to take them out. Through the 116 minute runtime, our gang globetrot (USA-London-Hong Kong-Russia), coming across the elite of the spy world: Katja (Catherine Zeta-Jones), The Frog (David Thewlis), Ivan (Brian Cox) and Edward Bailey (Anthony Hopkins). Particularly enjoyable are certain sly nods to past films of these talented thespians. Having Cox and Hopkins have a brief conversation on an airstrip is a particular joy – the two iconic portrayers of Dr Hannibal Lector (in MANHUNTER and THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS) coming together in one scene! Then there’s the brilliant turn from Mirren, as she infiltrates a high security psychiatric institution, feigning delusion as the Queen of England. But it is Malkovich who continually steals the film, with his bemused/confused/out-of-touch facial expressions and unsought after commentary, “What happens in the Kremlin, stays in the Kremlin.”
The director of GALAXY QUEST, Dean Parisot, was the right choice to bring to fuition such an action-comedy as RED 2. The helmer juggles the ensemble silkily, giving everyone sequences to show off their characters’ plethora of skills. Learn from this, makers of THE EXPENDABLES.
There is a McGuffin to be found, and like all the best ones, it is just a hook to hang the mayhem on. Bring on RED 3.
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