Red Review

Bruce Willis used to be a name synonymous with action. When one thinks about some of the best action movies of all times chances are Bruce Willis has starred in some of them and was even the inspiration for others. For those hoping for a return of the Bruce Willis of yesteryear, you won’t find his come back in “Red”.

“Red” is very loosely based on the DC comic of the same name written by Warren Ellis. The film follows Frank Moses(Bruce Willis) as a retired CIA agent that is put in danger when what he saw on the job comes back to kill him. He is forced to get his team, Joe (Morgan Freeman), Marvin (John Malkovich) and Victoria (Helen Mirren), back together to help him stay alive. Along for the adventure is Sarah Ross (Mary-Louise Parker) as a woman that Moses fell in love with on the phone. And on their tail is William Cooper (Karl Urban) as a up and coming CIA agent hoping to make a name for himself.

“Red” may sound like a fun action-comedy, but really it is bland, boring , and badly paced. It suffers from bringing nothing entirely new to the already full action genre. Most of the best parts of the film are spoiled by the ads that constantly run on TV, so if you haven’t seen much of the film you may enjoy it more. The film also suffers from trying too hard to be funny and as a result most of the jokes fall flat. The film suffers the most from the poor writing in both dialogue and action onscreen. The saving grace in the film is Malkovich’s character who provides some laughs from being forever paranoid, but his scenes don’t provide enough to hang the rest of the movie on and most of the TV ads spoil his best scenes.

If you are looking for a fun action-comedy look somewhere else as “Red” fails in being a worthy entry in both action and comedy.