When Bruce Willis plays his indestructible yet on the surface everyday guy he is right where the audience loves him. In RED, "Retired Extremely Dangerous", he has a close to perfect vehicle. And, so RED delivers in spite of a fairly ridiculous scenario of a group of ex-CIA operatives,or which Willis is one, being singled out for execution on the eve of the vice-president announcing his candidacy for president.
We get the message from the first that Willis is somewhat lonely and bored with retirement and is searching for a companion to make his new life matter. He isn't aching to get back to fast track, but is venerable and is fixated on a kind and cheery voice on the other end of the phone line when he complains about not getting his pension checks (he tears them up just to talk to his "handler"). He arranges a meeting with the sweet sounding gal just prior to everything falling apart because the CIA sends in a "wet" team to erase him. As suspected the CIA, as well as most all the resources of the government, are not up to the task.
Willis reassembles his old team, all in his age bracket or older, in order to survive. That team, if not on the surface a formidable threat, is pure cinematic gold as it consists of excellent performances by Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, and Helen Mirren. It is almost impossible not to like this film because of the wonderfully entertaining supporting cast. In fact Malkovich steals the show providing the correct dosage of crazed comic relief. This leads to impossible feats making for deliciously served up entertainment; all with a "nod-and-a-wink" that cuts through the unbelievable. Great action with comedy! Richard Dreyfus turns in a solid performance as a spoiled smart-ass (uber-wealthy and powerful) arms dealer who pulls strings behind the scenes. And, Ernest Borgnine has a cameo role which is memorable.
It's a character driven action comedy that truly is RED (ridiculous, entertaining, delightful). This movie gets a 7.5 and, as such, is hard to fault in spite of being pure light-weight fluff. See it and smile.
