Viewed Once in October 2010 in theaters
So who doesn't like Bruce Willis? Or Morgan Freeman? Who wouldn't want to see them together in a movie (along with other big name actors/actresses) as old, retired CIA agents who "still got it?"
When I took my parents to go see this film, I knew it would be funny and entertaining. What I got was a big swashbuckling romp with the most endearing characters that I've seen in a while. It was also surprisingly clean, compared with Willis' and John Malkovich's other films. Quick, witty, sarcastic, and clever, we all thoroughly enjoyed this flick.
Basically, Willis is Frank Moses, a recently retired Black Ops agent who can't quite seem to get down with the idea of retirement. The first few minutes of the movie help us to sympathize with him, as lonely breakfasts and decorating for Christmas take on all the excitement of watching an avocado germinate (which also happens). We feel his boredom...but wait! Bad guys dressed up in black outfits with huge guns try to kill him! His entire house is destroyed by the macho firepower, but somehow he manages to get out alive, leaving all the bad guys behind and still having great hair...umm...
He then embarks on a cross-country journey to reunite some old friends (and make a couple of new ones) in a race-against-time. Mission: Survival. It's pretty entertaining, especially when Moses picks up his old friends and we wonder if they're all there upstairs (Malkovich plays a wisecracking trigger-happy conspiracy theorist; Freeman is a dirty-minded 80-year-old who's really the brains of the whole thing; Helen Mirren takes on the personality of a Bruce-Willis-meets-Martha-Stewart). It's totally fun and flies by all too quickly.
NEGATIVES:
>>Profanity: There is one character who insists on using foul and nasty language every time she's on screen (it's pretty obvious that she's one of the baddies). There's also one F-word said pretty clearly during the final showdown. Other than that, it's a pretty light smattering of obscenities (this movie is child's play compared to other Willis and Malkovich films). I wouldn't advise it for younger kids.
>>Violence: Well, this is a Bruce Willis movie about CIA agents who go on a mission to survive! It's going to include guns, explosions, fistfights, the good guys getting wounded, people falling off of stuff, car-wrecking sprees, long shootouts, close-range shots, etc. However, it's not terribly gory or bloody. I mean, we see blood and people's wounds, but we don't see them actually getting hit (for the most part). It's pretty "matinee friendly." (PluggedIn.com)
>>Spiritual Content: I don't remember anything past a few misuses of God's name.
>>Alcohol and Drugs: A couple of characters are dispatched using tranquilizers/poison. One CIA agent had been getting daily doses of LSD for 11 years as an experiment. Alcohol appears a few times.
>>Sex: Isn't in here that much. There are one or two references, but they are quick and fleeting. A couple of women wear revealing clothing. Freeman's character ogles a woman's backside (albeit in a comical manner).
Plugged In says, "RED blends heroic actions with polished CGI, likeable characters with a light dose of conspiratorial tension. Then it peppers the whole thing with just the right amount of winking, tongue-in-cheek humor. It's not like there's anything deep or meaningful going on. The movie just seems to work on a certain basic entertainment level. In fact, this pic is so well cast, paced and balanced that you almost forget it's about killing people...Somehow worse than all that slam-bang, though, is the fact that the film makes the gun blazing look so cool."
Overall, a fun film that doesn't really address the moral issues found within. It just takes a shoot-em-up and makes it quick, witty, and a rollicking good time.
5 out of 6 stars
So that everyone (including myself) may benefit from it, please feel free to leave your own personal opinion of this film.
Plugged In Movie Reviews
The Internet Movie Database
As the parent who accompanied Ashley to the movie, I agree. We thoroughly enjoyed the movie!
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