I had seen the first movie Red with Bruce Willis, Mary Louise Parker, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren and loved it very much. So I was excited to see Red 2. It delivered. We laughed so hard at times. Yes,there are always some pretty far out stunts but so funny you forgive them. Because after all they are Retired and Extremely Dangerous. Anthony Hopkins is there to do his acting chops and have fun too. Saw premier the other night and writers of the movies called Malkovich BACON. Because they said he was just like it-everything is better with John in it. Have to say he is as crazy and yet smart as a raccoon after your trash can. Hopkins built a bomb in his younger day and hid it. The English shut him away in an insane asylum . That is where our guys go to get him and find the bomb before bad guys in the CIA can get it first. And the race is and here comes Brucie coming up the back stretch and John is moving to the middle with Helen and her sub-machine bring up the rear. Then along comes Mary to win the race. Good fun. Out of 10 I give it a solid 9 just for giving me a lot of laughs.
Cat Says:
I had reluctantly seen the first Red and loved it. It was a fun story, fun actors basically making fun of their characters, great script writing. Playful dialog which I love. So I was excited to see the second one and worried all at the same time. I've seen so many sequels just trying so hard to out-do themselves that it ruins them and I was afraid this one would do the same.
Basically here is the "plot". The old crew, Willis' character in particular, are blamed for an old cold war incident so everyone is out to get them and the bomb that was created by a "mad" scientist (Anthony Hopkins). So now, with the help of John Malkovich and Mary-Louise Parker, as his ex-partner and his ditzy combat yearning girlfriend, they go and try to figure it all out and save the day. Along the way they join up with Helen Mirren and Byung-hun Lee (assassins orginally hired to kill Willis and Lee delivers one of the best lines of the movie!) to face the bad guys. Catherine Zeta Jones has a part in here as a Russian Spy but her character never really gels and is fairly forgettable.
So...the actors are great. The stunts are over the top, one of them clearly borrowed from Wanted, and tons of fun. The one liners are epic. So that all makes this over the top fun. As long as you don't take it seriously you will have fun with it. Now the down side.
It feels disjointed. It's really hard to describe it but it just feels "off". They are not really clear what is going on and where the story is headed until at least half way through the movie. Like they forgot to give you a "set up" at the beginning of the movie. But just as you are thinking "where IS this going" they distract you with another hilarious one liner. But this disjointed feeling kept me from completely getting into the swing of things. So while I had fun with it I can only give it a 7.5. By all means, go see it on the big screen if you are looking for a fun date night or something fun to go see but if movie money is tight this year you could wait for DVD and be just fine.
Parental advisory. There is a LOT of killing going on here and complete casualness about it. One scene has the Mirren character chatting on the phone to Willis while calmly disposing of a body. While tongue in cheek for an adult, a kid could internalize it negatively. So keep this in mind for children under 13.
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