Red

Red should be Yellow for Caution
Red, PG-113, ***, Bruce Willis, Mary Louise Parker, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Brian Cox, Ernest Borgnine. Summit Entertainment and D C Comics film. Director Robert Schwentke, Length 111 minutes

The movie begins as Frank Moss (Bruce Willis), a retired government agent, is waking up to a very dull life. His happiest moments are talking on the phone to Sarah Ross (Mary-Louise Parker) a friendly lady working in a low level position at the agency. Moss tears his checks in half and tells her that he never received them. He does this to have an excuse to talk with her.
Unfortunately his mundane days are interrupted by a hit squad arriving at his house to kill him. However, Moss is one tough hombre. He may be retired, but he still posses his violent skills, and he uses them throughout the movie.
He must find out why they are trying to kill him. He travels to Kansas and finds Ross. In a very funny extended scene, he forces her to travel with him because she is in danger.
Together they travel from Kansas to New Orleans to find another agent, Joe Matteson (Morgan Freeman), who is in a Rest Home. Of course, since Ross’s regular job is mundane, she begins to like the danger and travel involved in this adventure.
With only a few clues, the team begins to discover some information that helps them follow a warm trail of deceit. The trail eventually heats up. The bad guys have a list of former agents that must be killed.
Traveling to Florida, they obtain their next comrade Morris Boggs (John Malkovich). He is one paranoid crazy guy. He brings a great deal of comedy to this movie along with the rest of the crew.
The team must find another one of their retired agents to help them get to the bottom of why the agency is trying to kill this select group of people. The wonderful actress Helen Mirren plays Victoria who was a killer in the agency. Unable to adjust to retirement she still takes the occasional contract. It is always a pleasure to watch Mirren act. She is one classy excellent actress. Mirren is a very talented individual with enormous capabilities who brings a stylish part to this movie. Ernest Borgnine makes an appearance. He is in his early 90’s now.
The team finds Ivan (Brian Cox) who was a Russian spy. It appears they were enemies and colleagues at one time. This makes the movie more interesting. Richard Dreyfuss is also in the movie as a bad guy.
“Red” is chocked full of gunfights, car chases, and over the top action. It has a few good moments, but it lacks the strength of an action comedy that the audience is expecting from the trailer.
Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed in this movie. Even with the action, it seemed to continuously drag a story along that we have seen many times. It had its moments, but overall, it left the audience with a felling that it could have given the viewer a little more comedy and less action. It took itself a little too serious since it wanted to be a comedy and an action drama. Filled with lots of action, seriousness, and comedy, it gave this viewer a feeling best expressed in a song from the movie “Alfie” - What’s it all about by Dionne Warick.
I believe the audience would have preferred either seriousness or comedy. The mix just did not fulfill the expectations.
I enjoy watching all of the actors in this movie. I simple was expecting more. It is very loosely based on a Graphic novel by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner.
Terry Burns, Film Critic