The action-comedy RED (2010), inspired by the limited comic book series of the same name from DC’s Homage Comics imprint, was an unexpected and pleasant surprise for moviegoers when it came out a few years ago. It successfully took what could have been a one-note joke of a concept – elderly spies having to come out of retirement – and turned it into a fun, entertaining movie. And thanks to that film’s financial success, which not many adaptations of obscure comic books have achieved, it got a sequel. That sequel has arrived, and while RED 2 is not quite as good as the first, it is a worthy follow-up and definitely worth seeing.
One of the biggest factors in why the original RED worked so well was the excellent cast, and thankfully, most of the key players have returned for the sequel. Bruce Willis’ Frank Moses is again a great central character, and Willis brings his usual combination of working-stiff charm and toughness. John Malkovich again plays Marvin Boggs with the kind of amusing craziness few other actors can provide, but the character also gets a few moments to calm down and actually be a voice of reason. Mary-Louise Parker is back as Frank’s girlfriend Sarah Ross, and her character arguably has the most significant arc in the film, and gets some great moments where her different perspective on things compared to the ex-spies, really helps them out. Just like last time, Helen Mirren’s Victoria gets some of the best action beats, and she’s still my favorite character in this franchise. And it was nice to see Brian Cox back, albeit briefly, as ex-Soviet spy Ivan Simanov. In terms of the new faces, my favorite was definitely Lee Byung-hun as Han, a contract killer who’s crossed paths with Frank before, and has been hired to take out our heroes. Lee, who is best known stateside as Storm Shadow in the two live-action G.I. Joe films, does an amazing job with his action scenes, and has the most depth of any of the antagonists here.
Catherine Zeta-Jones doesn’t get much to play with as Frank’s ex-flame Katja, with the character really being just a fusion of the ex-girlfriend and the sexy foreign agent, but she does well with what she’s given, and certainly looks fetching in a Russian military uniform. I also really enjoyed Anthony Hopkins as Edward Bailey, the man responsible for creating the experimental weapon which drives the story. It goes without saying that Hopkins is a great actor, and this role gives him a nice chance to play both wacky comedic moments as well as some more serious material. David Thewlis, best known as Professor Lupin from the Harry Potter films, has a small but memorable role as an information dealer called “The Frog,” and he is the centerpiece of one of my favorite scenes. Unfortunately, the guy who gets the short end of the stick is Neal McDonough as Jack Horton, an American operative assigned to stop Moses and company. McDonough is a good actor, and he makes a good physical adversary for our heroes, but the character has no depth or nuance, which was pretty disappointing.
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RED 2 definitely has a lot more action than its predecessor. The film offers a good mix of hand-to-hand, gunfights, and chases, and thankfully none of it feels like its repeating sequences from the first film. My favorite scenes were our heroes chasing “The Frog” through the streets of Paris, with a jealous Sarah trying to upstage Katja, and the intense fight between Frank and Han in an airfield hanger. And considering that director Dean Parisot has never done an action movie before, I think he handled himself well and I’d like to see him work in this arena again. But while the action is good, there’s unfortunately no single shot or sequence that is as instantly-iconic as the moment of Frank Moses casually stepping out of the spinning car in the original RED. I did have a slight issue with the fact that this movie is definitely more violent than the first one. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but considering the overall lighthearted tone of the film, the intensity of the violence in some scenes is a little jarring. There’s a pretty high body count, and at times it seems at odds with what’s supposed to be a fun action-comedy.
Of course, a comedy of any kind ultimately lives and dies on its jokes, and for the most part, RED 2 delivers in that regard. Like in the first film, a lot of the humor is based on the contrast between these spies and the mundane world around them. A good example of this, which has been seen in the trailers, is a scene of Frank and Victoria talking on the phone. While they’re speaking, Victoria is nonchalantly pouring chemicals into a bathtub to dissolve the body stuffed in there, and acts as though this is nothing out of the ordinary. One of my favorite scenes takes place after our heroes have captured “The Frog” and try various unconventional methods to get him to talk. Lee and McDonough are mostly stuck playing the straight men here, but even they get some amusing moments. While I did enjoy it, I did feel that, on the whole, the humor in this film is a little more broad and silly than in the first one.
Catherine Zeta-Jones in “Red 2.” Photo by Frank Masi – © 2013 Summit Entertainment, LLC. All rights reserved.
My main knock against the film is that I thought the storyline was a little too straightforward and didn’t offer any real surprises. The original RED didn’t exactly break new ground for action movie storytelling, but it did have a fun mystery as the heroes figured out why they were being targeted and the larger plot at work. By contrast, RED 2 really just sets up a scenario and proceeds forward as expected, and the attempted twist regarding the true villain isn’t something that I imagine will surprise anyone. Along those same lines, while the people in the cast are all good actors, I thought the villains here were less interesting than the ones in the first movie. Also, I am sick of movies having the villain kill one of his own henchmen to demonstrate how evil and ruthless he is. Even in a comedy, it strains our willing suspension of disbelief when it’s played completely straight like it is here. Finally, I was irked by the presence of some annoying blatant product placement in the film. While one instance of this was used as the basis of one of my favorite jokes in the film, the rest really just stick out like a sore thumb.
But even with all those issues I had, I did really like RED 2 for the most part. While it makes some stumbles along the way, the film still offers a great cast, some cool action, and plenty of laughs. If you’re a fan of the first movie and you want to see a solid action-comedy at the theater right now, you should definitely check out RED 2.
Timothy Monforton