Red (2010)

The newest Netflix to arrive snail mail to our box is 2010's Red.  Red was surprisingly well acted, even in spite of its all star cast.  Special effects were decent for the most part, and script was pretty solid.  This was a combination of many different types of scripting and the result was something you don't see very often.

The cast was lead by Bruce Willis, who played a pretty normal Bruce Willis role.  His character Frank Moses seemed much like that of John McClane of his famed Die Hard series.  He was supported by Mary-Louise Parker, who was absolutely incredible.  Her acting, paired with her scripted character turned out phenomenal in the final product. Bruce and Mary-Louise were also supported by big names such as Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Brian Cox and Richard Dreyfuss.  Casting was amazing, I can not think of a single character that I would have liked to see acted by someone other than who was chosen.

I can't even begin to give the script justice for this film.  It was a combination of so many different types that it turned out very unique.  You have your action thriller mixed with your drama love suspense, and just for fun add in some see how many awkward situations we can put the main characters into.  The amazing thing about this movie, compared with a recently reviewed Dinner for Schmucks, is that you don't cringe and feel bad for the characters as they keep getting into trouble after trouble.

*mild spoilers below*

One of my favorite scenes in the film had to be in the early part of the film before Mary-Louise found out he was truly a CIA black ops operative.  They are being chased and they are hit by Karl Urban's character. Frank's car is spinning around and you find out how trained and far into black ops he really was.  He is able to track Karl's character even though is car is spinning, pick the perfect time and he steps out of the car while it is still spinning, starts walking and shooting and the car misses him by inches, and its still spinning. The camera angles and special effects, combined with filming techniques such as slow motion and blurring made this scene so good that I had to rewind it to watch it a second time.

Character development and interactions were amazing also.  There was enough built into the film so you understood relationships, and what was going on but not so much that you were sick or felt as if it were overkill.  So much happened in the film however that I was unable to remember all of it.  After the film when it went back to the menu, I was reminded of some of the things I had forgotten.  I truly think I will have to watch this a second, or even third time before I catch all the little things that happened throughout the entire film.

Who would have thought that Helen Mirren would look so amazing holding a gun?  About the only thing I was surprised by is that Mary-Louise Parker was not scripted to start shooting during a scene or two.  Don't get me wrong, that is NOT what I wanted to see.  I think it is far better the way it was filmed, I am just saying it seemed as if it were being foreshadowed that she would eventually kill someone.  Maybe in the unslated sequel that is rumored to be in writing at the moment?  Only time will tell.

2010's Red is much like my last review of The A-Team.  I am giving Red a 4 star review because it was very entertaining and different from some of the over stimulating comedy films currently, but it did not have enough to be a 5 star review.  As always leave comments, click above to follow my blog and share to your favorite social networking site below.  Ciao for now and see you for the next review!