'Red' Review

I hate to say it, but this movie was kind of a disappointment. Not that it was particularly bad, but it definitely didn't meet the expectations provided by the preview. It relied on it's star-studded cast to drive the plot. Bruce Willis was....well Bruce Willis. The action packed lead who secretly has a soft side. He looked too young to be with his other RED (Retired Extremely Dangerous) members and too old to be with his love interest (played by a hilarious Mary-Louise Parker). I've just never found him to be particularly endearing, attractive or talented.

This film did an awful job of developing characters. Since the cast was made up of Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and Bruce Willis I'm pretty sure the producers didn't think they had to. Helen Mirren was the classy, gorgeous woman with an edge, Morgan Freeman was the deep and at times tragic character, John Malkovich was a psycho and for Bruce Willis see above.

The dialogue also lacked the humor that the trailer provided. Lines that were delivered as if they would be big crowd pleasers were met with a few chuckles in the theater. This weak dialogue took what could have been a hilarious and inventive film and turned it into another stupid CIA agent movie.

That being said, it wasn't entirely a drag. As I said before, Mary-Louise Parker did an excellent job as Bruce Willis' love interest. She had great timing and hers was the one well-developed character in the mix. It's also hard to ignore Helen Mirren. The woman can wear red lipstick like a goddess, carries herself with poise and has excellent fashion sense, so my former complaints can be ignored. Apart from Parker, John Malkovich provided some of the only genuine humor. Though I thought his character could have been funnier, he did have some fantastic scenes. Basically, all of the leads are very talented actors, however, that doesn't mean that they were put in a place to show those talents off. C