Red (I) (2010)

When his peaceful life is threatened by a high-tech assassin, former black-ops agent Frank Moses reassembles his old team in a last ditch effort to survive and uncover his assailants.

Director:

Robert Schwentke

Writers:

Jon Hoeber (screenplay), Erich Hoeber (screenplay),

Stars:

Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker, Morgan Freeman

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bruce Willis	...	Frank Moses
Mary-Louise Parker	...	Sarah Ross
Karl Urban	...	William Cooper
Rebecca Pidgeon	...	Cynthia Wilkes
Morgan Freeman	...	Joe Matheson
Chris Owens	...	Hanged Man
Jaqueline Fleming	...	Marna
Randy Wade Kelley	...	Paramedic
Jason Giuliano	...	Endercott
Alec Rayme	...	Cop at Intersection
Lawrence Turner	...	Retirement Home Assassin
Emily Kuroda	...	Mrs. Chan
Joe Chrest	...	Retirement Home Detective
Justine Wachsberger	...	Nurse
Tara Yelland	...	Wilkes' Secretary

Storyline

Frank (Bruce Willis) is retired, bored and lonely living off his government pension in a nondescript suburb in an equally nondescript house. The only joy in Frank's life are his calls to the government pension processing center when he gets to talk to his case worker Sarah (Mary-Louis Parker). Sarah is as bored and lonely as Frank and marks her conversations with the unknown Frank and her spy novels as the only things fun in her life. When something in Frank's past forces Frank back into his old line of work and puts an unwitting Sarah in the middle of the intrigue, Frank and Sarah begin a journey into Franks past and the people he used to work with. Like Frank they are all RED ... Retired Extremely Dangerous.

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Plot Keywords:

retired | cia | assassin | retirement | christmas | 

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Taglines:

Aims To Please.

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action violence and brief strong language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [fr]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

15 October 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

R.E.D. - Älter. Härter. Besser.

Filming Locations:

Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$58,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£1,662,472 (UK) (22 October 2010)

Gross:

$90,356,857 (USA) (28 January 2011)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Summit Entertainment, Di Bonaventura Pictures, DC Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The first feature theatrical film based on a DC comics property not made by Warner Bros.. (Batman (from Fox) was a spin-off from a TV series, and Superman (from Columbia) was a serial.)

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Goofs

When Marvin grabs the woman at the airport in Alabama, he's holding the stuffed pig in his right hand. A second later, he pushes her against a wall and he suddenly has a pistol in his hand and the pig tucked under his arm. Also, he cocks the pistol, but a shot or two later it's uncocked again.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Frank Moses: [on the phone] 943-66-2291. Pension Services, please.
Woman: Thank you, Mr. Moses, please hold for your representative.

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Crazy Credits

Bullets, guns and explosions play out over the end credits.

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Connections

Followed by Red 2 (2013)

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Soundtracks

"Sunrise in China"
Written and Performed by Scott Seegert
Courtesy of Crucial Music Corporation

User Reviews

John McClane, Cyrus the Virus, God and The Queen team up and kill people for laughs

A retired CIA operative, hunted by his own people, reunites his old team for one last mission. It's certainly not an original story, mashing together ideas that we've seen before in the Bourne series, The Expendibles and The Losers. 'RED' (which stands for 'Retired, Extremely Dangerous') is the 4th film this year to be adapted from a graphic novel. It is also the 4th to feature men going on a mission, and the 5th with a plot involving the CIA. I couldn't help but feel skeptical. But then I noticed the cast list and realised that this is meant to be a comedy. At this point I saw the project in a different light. 'RED' is a film in which John McClane, God, Cyrus the Virus and The Queen join forces and kill people for laughs. Clearly this was going to be a film where story and sense came second to cast and chemistry.

From 'Die Hard' to 'Sin City', Bruce Willis' good-guy-having-a-bad-day routine has evolved little, but it does not need to be fixed. His performance in 'RED' is familiar, but he is never less than entertaining. This time he brings with him an air of self-parody. Throughout the film he maintains a carefree poker-face, as though he's done this so many times over the years that he can afford to be relaxed. There are valid attempts at making Willis seem more normal, and these can be quite amusing. The first 10 minutes, which show him adjusting to retirement and aimlessly wandering around the house in his dressing gown, are reminiscent of Carl Fredricksen's first appearance as an old man in 'Up'. Deeper characterisation, however, only serves to show how abnormal he really is, and it is a delight to see him in action.

With the exception of Willis, the cast is made up of actors who have no business waving guns around. Helen Mirren was an inspired choice, as if making up for the predictability of Willis' casting. Flower-arranging OAP on the outside and bad-ass hit-woman on the inside, Mirren is strangely suited to action. There is something about the juxtaposition of her gran-like demeanour with exaggerated violence that makes her very funny and extremely watchable.

John Malkovich is particularly entertaining in his performance as a mentally questionable conspiracy theorist who refuses to retire peacefully. After the numerous roles he has played with an undercurrent of insanity, it is hilarious to see him go full-on howling mad. It is not often that Malkovich gets to flex his comedy muscles, but he steals every scene in which he appears.

Morgan Freeman is unfortunately the weakest part of this alternative A-Team, not because of his performance but because he is under-utilised. He has little action time and even less characterisation. There is a glimpse at pervy-old-man behaviour (which could have been funny) and a mention of health problems (which could have been touching) but these are quickly forgotten. It is as though the writers were distracted, trying too hard to develop a secondary storyline involving Willis' romance with a pension office clerk. This subplot adds little and distracts from the main picture. It is a pity, because the wasted effort could have been more effectively put into making the story tighter, or on giving Morgan Freeman more screen time.

Overall, this is a good laugh, even if you won't remember it afterwards. Taking things less seriously and trying less hard to be cool means that 'RED' is more fun than 'The Expendibles', and less embarrassing too. Stallone can mumble all he wants about "shooting real action" - I'd rather see the Queen fire machine guns.