RED has a great premise. A retired CIA operative who was at the top of his field is the subject of a hit, and as he attempts to figure out who is behind it, various retired friends and colleagues come to his aid to uncover the conspiracy. There's lots of fun to be had with this concept, and RED does a good job of squeezing out this fun, mostly through the character quirks and the interactions between them.
I think its safe to say though that this film is rather messy. I couldn't help feeling when watching it that the pacing was off slightly, some of the dialogue was clunky, and at times they were trying too hard to inject humour where it just wasn't working. The plot was fun and had a good couple of twists and surprises, but there were still a few beats that were off.
The cast were slightly disappointing for me too. You'd think a film with Morgan Freeman, Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Brian Cox et al would demonstrate the crème de la crème of acting, but none of them brought their A-game. To be expected I suppose, the script and overall vibe didn't necessarily lend itself to Oscar worthy performances. Karl Urban was probably the standout for me, I thought he put in a great performance.
The action in RED is thoroughly entertaining. It very OTT and all the better for it. There are lots of entertaining scenes, particularly one brutal hand to hand fight between Bruce Willis and I won't say who, which was really well choreographed.
RED is a fun film and definitely worth watching if cheesy tongue in cheek action films are your thing. If they aren't, probably best to steer clear from this one.
I think its safe to say though that this film is rather messy. I couldn't help feeling when watching it that the pacing was off slightly, some of the dialogue was clunky, and at times they were trying too hard to inject humour where it just wasn't working. The plot was fun and had a good couple of twists and surprises, but there were still a few beats that were off.
The cast were slightly disappointing for me too. You'd think a film with Morgan Freeman, Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Brian Cox et al would demonstrate the crème de la crème of acting, but none of them brought their A-game. To be expected I suppose, the script and overall vibe didn't necessarily lend itself to Oscar worthy performances. Karl Urban was probably the standout for me, I thought he put in a great performance.
The action in RED is thoroughly entertaining. It very OTT and all the better for it. There are lots of entertaining scenes, particularly one brutal hand to hand fight between Bruce Willis and I won't say who, which was really well choreographed.
RED is a fun film and definitely worth watching if cheesy tongue in cheek action films are your thing. If they aren't, probably best to steer clear from this one.