Red 2 [M]

Although quite solidly retired, CIA agent Frank Moses is still on the radar as being very dangerous. When an assassination attempt is made on his friend and co-agent Marvin, it becomes apparent that Frank’s dream of a quiet life with his lover is out of the question as he gets suddenly roped into reuniting his unlikely ream of operatives and go travelling across the world in search of a missing portable nuclear device before it falls into the wrong hands. 

I only ever saw the first movie once and yes I remember enjoying it but I don’t really remember loving it and it’s pretty much the same with this movie. Red 2 regales its audiences with seemingly never-ending bouts of adrenaline-pinching action and well-timed humour, but beyond the explosions and very well-done action sequences, there is little to really admire about this movie, which is probably why it’s taken me so long to get around to reviewing it (I watched it with a mate at the cinema about a month ago now). 

Although quite solidly retired, CIA agent Frank Moses is still on the radar as being very dangerous. When an assassination attempt is made on his friend and co-agent Marvin, it becomes apparent that Frank’s dream of a quiet life with his lover is out of the question as he gets suddenly roped into reuniting his unlikely ream of operatives and go travelling across the world in search of a missing portable nuclear device before it falls into the wrong hands.

I don’t want to be the person to say that this was a bad movie because, truth be told, it really wasn’t. There just wasn’t anything all that new or unseen or even clever to bring it up to the ranks of a good movie. At the end of the day I think I’d have to class it as ‘mediocre’ or maybe even ‘fine’. 

The story is pretty primitive and simple, although there was a nice twist about halfway through that added another layer of intrigue (something that was rather needed I felt). 

The performances were fine, although it did feel as though everyone was just sort of going through the motions, the leads especially having already been through one Red movie. A few of the new characters were strong enough to keep fascination and intrigue up and running and there are a whole lot of familiar faces that join the already big-name-littered cast. 

I do have to admit, though, that the action sequences were done very well with a nice fusion of the fast-paced car chases and then the slow-motion gunplay scenes: Helen Mirren makes gunplay and assassinations look very sassy and sexy indeed. 

Starring Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Mary-Louise Parker, Byung-hun Lee, Anthony Hopkins, Neal McDonough, Catherine Zeta Jones, and David Thewlis, Red 2 is a mindless action-candy movie that’s enough to entertain and thrill, but nothing that’s overly special in any form. Filled with romance, action, drama, and comedy, I enjoyed it nicely enough (I laughed and started a few times), but ultimately it wasn’t a movie I could see adding to my collection: I just don’t think there was all that much effort and heart that was put into it…at least that’s what I felt.