RED

So... remember when I reviewed Expendables towards the very end of the summer? How I mentioned it was a fun little action piece? How I mentioned the humor mostly worked? How I mentioned that I had a good time?

Take it to the rocket launcher.

This movie is the one that's all of those things, and more...

RED

Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) is a retired CIA agent living life. He's just got one problem; someone's trying to kill him and several other people. So he sets out to find out who is trying to get him killed along with the help of his old friends Marvin, (John Malkovich), Joe (Morgan Freeman), Victoria (Helen Mirren), and a pension clerk caught up in events that Frank is falling for (Mary-Louise Parker). And so, explosions and one-liners galore ensue.

So yeah. Expendables? Pssh. Move over.

This movie is somehow even more ridiculous than that. Bruce Willis walks out of a twirling car casualy while firing guns at someone. Helen Mirren uses a submachine gun. Morgan Freeman is allowed to have a gun at a retirement home. And John Malkovich shoots a rocket and makes it blow up. And all that, is among other things. And it's every bit as fun as it sounds. It's big. It's loud. This movie has a ball with itself, and the result is difficult (if not impossible) to like. The fact that it's older people having this much fun is... well, quite strange, frankly, but it's still great to see they can own basically everyone else.

And we can see it all, too. Nothing about all this 'shaky cam' business; the action here is incredibly crisp, incredibly clean-cut, and we can actually see what's going on. And this only means the action gets more intense and more fun.

It also helps that all the zingers that frequent the script all work extremely well. It helps quite a bit too that with the older actors the acting is quite stellar, and thus every single actor nails the one-liners. While some bits of the plot don't make a whole lot of sense, it's so tightly scripted that we're still with the characters all the way through every little plot convenience. And honestly? I didn't mind all the plot conveniences, as I was just having so much fun throughout I scarcely cared.

And that I think is RED's strongest point. Its plot can be a bit convoluted, but I wasn't vested enough in the story to care. Everyone has a great time with this, and it really shows in how much fun this movie is to watch. The action is incredible, the one-liners are all really fun, and it's brought together by a tight script and especially tight acting.

3.5/4

Most definitely worth checking out.

This is Herr Wozzeck Reviews. I'll see you guys next time.