The first time I saw the teaser trailer, I really wanted to see this film just because I’m a Bruce Willis fan, but of course I thought all the other actors would be very entertaining to watch. From Summit Entertainment and DC Entertainment comes the 2010 action comedy RED. Directed by Robert Schwentke (Flightplan, The Time Traveler’s Wife), Produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura (Transformers) and Based on the three issue, graphic mini-series DC comic book by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner. The film tells the story of former C.I.A. agent Frank Moses (Bruce Willis), living an idyllic life of retirement, till one day a high tech assassin shows up intending to kill him. With his identity compromised, Frank puts together his old team and fellow retirees: the charming handler Joe Matheson (Morgan Freeman), the paranoid Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich), and the high caliber Victoria Winslow (Helen Mirren), who will all embark on an impossible mission to break into the top secret C.I.A. headquarters, where they will find out the truth behind it all. The film also stars Mary-Louise Parker (TV’s Weeds) as the federal pension agent Sarah Ross, Karl Urban (Star Trek) as C.I.A. agent William Cooper, Richard Dreyfuss (Jaws) as wealthy man Alexander Dunning, Brian Cox (The Bourne Identity) as former Cold War spy Ivan Simanov, Rebecca Pidgeon (State and Main) as C.I.A. agent Cynthia Wilkes, Julian McMahon (TV’s Nip/Tuck) as the U.S. vice president Robert Stanton, and special appearances by James Remar (48 Hrs.) as Gabriel Synger, and Ernest Borgnine (The Dirty Dozen) as C.I.A. records keeper Henry. The 1977 song “Back in the Saddle” from the hard rock band Aerosmith, that was used in the trailers and TV spots, I became so addicted to that song and I’ve been listening to it ever since. Out of all the actors and next to his 1997 performance as Cyrus “The Virus” Grissom from CON AIR, which I loved, I really enjoyed Malkovich’s performance as Marvin. He almost didn’t do the movie because originally it was to be played by John C. Reilly, but dropped out just before filming began. I thought Helen Mirren was good, and seeing her as a version of Martha Stewart firing machine guns was cool to watch. Filmed on location in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and New Orleans, Louisiana from January 11th to March 8th, 2010 with a budget of $58 Million, RED took the #2 spot behind JACKASS 3-D on the opening weekend of October 15th with $22,000,000 and got mostly positive reviews by the film critics. With a cast of well known actors, good action, and hilarious John Malkovich moments, RED is a very entertaining action comedy. I recommend it to all movie lovers and as it said in the TV spots “There’s no substitute for experience”.
