Red (2010)

More fun than a silly and stupid movie has any right to be! A retired CIA agent (Bruce Willis) finds himself embroiled in a massive government cover up which threatens not only his life but several of his retired colleagues from the past. Based on a D.C. comics graphic novel, RED (which stands for Retired: Extremely Dangerous) throws all sense and caution to the winds, instead dwelling on amusing situations, dialogue and characters to captivate us rather than any remote sense of the real world. For example, when a house in a middle class neighborhood is decimated by bullets and explosions, no one even looks to see what is going on and in a gunfight on a New Orleans street, the street is conveniently deserted (no cars, no pedestrians) in the middle of the day! Director Robert Schwentke directs in the style of a Tarantino wannabe though not as astutely, even to the use of pop songs on the soundtrack though the use of heavy metal during the action sequences has grown into such a cliche. Still, there's no denying there was a good time to be had in all the silliness. With Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich (just about stealing the film as a paranoid, LSD burnt out ex-CIA agent), Mary Louise Parker, Richard Dreyfuss, Ernest Borgnine, Brian Cox, Karl Urban and Rebecca Pidgeon.