RED

Recently back from holiday, so have a few blogging things to catch up. Might offer some thoughts on my travels soon (possibly on a new blog), thoughts on the CSR may or may not follow, if I ever get my head around it. But for now lets think films.

RED (which stands for Retired Extremely Dangerous) is not exactly original. The idea of former spies and hard men proving their more than a match for the younger competitors has been done before. The plot, as such, holds few surprises. Most of the characters are stock characters - from Brian Cox's Russian agent (think Robbie Coltrane in the bond films) to John Malkovich's paranoiac.

However, what RED lacks in originality it makes up for in fun - lots of it. Bruce Willis stars as the ex-CIA agent who in retirement finds himself on the wrong end of a hitlist and gets the gang back together to uncover the conspiracy. But who cares about the plot - it has Helen Mirren firing machine guns! There is something rather ludicrously appealing about Dame Helen firing off heavy weaponry which sums up the appeal of the film. Willis seems much more at ease here than he did in his brief cameo in The Expendables, enjoying having people who can actually act to play off and its a delight to see Morgan Freeman still up to the action. That's before adding into the mix Richard Dreyfuss and Ernest Borgnine. Karl Urban is also a surprisingly strong presence as the CIA agent on Willis' trail.

Not that the film is perfect by any means - Malkovich comes close to overbalancing it at times, some of the effects (especially one really bad shot of Willis stepping out of a spinning car, shooting a gun) really fail to convince and not even the excellent Mary Louise Parker can sell the romance with Willis. That said, the script is strong and witty, the action generally well handled and the gags well delivered.

Overall - 7/10 It won't be troubling the academy come Oscar night, but for a fun, action packed night out, it doesn't go far wrong and shows how a cast can have great fun and still make it fun for the viewer too.