Red 2

Directed by Dean Parisot. Written by Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber, Warren Ellis, Cully Hammer. Starring Bruce Willis (Frank), John Malkovich (Marvin), Mary-Louise Parker (Sarah), Catherine Zeta-Jones (Katja), Byung Hun Lee (Han Cho Bai), Anthony Hopkins (Bailey) and Helen Mirren (Victoria).

Bottom line: I didn’t expect much from Red 2 and I wasn’t disappointed; it is funny at times and is, overall, a pleasant enough movie.

2.5/4

I didn’t see Red because I was never the biggest fan of movies where the kick is that older people are doing things typically associated with younger people. I will say that I would rather see old people in a film than children. Both groups make snarky comments but I feel like once you reach a certain age, it is fine. I was pleasantly surprised by Red 2. It’s funny here and there and it isn’t really trying to be anything more than a comic book movie. It isn’t too stylized but it isn’t too realistic. “Stylized,” mind you, isn’t inherently bad but is when executed poorly. I suppose anything could be bad but it’s the difference between Kill Bill and Baytown Outlaws.

Red 2 is about a bunch of retired CIA (MI6, KGB, etc.) agents going back into action to track down a missing Cold War super-weapon before it falls into villainous hands. I liked each of the characters. I was a little wary of Mary-Louise Parker. She teetered on annoying but she was sympathetic enough to not make me hate her.

The humor in Red 2 is a lot like the following joke:

Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy whips out his phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps, "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator says "Calm down. I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead." There is a silence, then a gun shot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says "OK, now what?"[3]

There is something matter-of-fact about the violence which intertwines with the humor. “It’s been months since you’ve killed anyone, Frank,” says Marvin (Malkovich). “That’s a good thing, Marvin,” Frank responds.

One thing I thought was kinda funny was the word choice. If you recall Live Free or Die Hard using ‘technical buzzwords’ like “download”, Red 2 uses the word “Internet”: “Ever since that document was put on the Internet....” and “There’s no way to take down the list after it was posted on Wikileaks on the Internet.”

A driving subplot is the relationship between Willis and Louis-Parker. He is a former operative and she is a former phone operator for the Social Security Administration office. Much like the rest of the movie, it isn’t tense or drawn out. It provides opportunity for quick little jokes such as the scene where John Malkovich (another retired CIA hitman) and Byung Hun Lee (the world’s best hitman) give relationship advice to Bruce Willis. I can imagine how having three hitmen talk about feelings might not seem worth a sequel, but it is. Instead of adding stupid jokes Red 2 let’s silly little situations speak for themselves. This is to say that Red 2 generally shows restraint, which I appreciate.

Overall, I’d recommend Red 2 for a Sunday matinee kind of thing. It could make for a cute date movie. It isn’t the best movie ever in any respect but it was good enough for me to want to see the original some time.