Plot: What’s it about?
I recall seeing an interview with Bruce Willis on the show Between Two Ferns. If you’ve never seen the show check it out, by the way. It’s hosted by Zach Galifianakis and he interviews “A” list movie stars. In his interview he says to Willis “Do you ever see a script and say ‘No, thanks.’” to which he coyly replies “No, not really.” What’s that mean? I think it means that Bruce Willis has been in so many films that some are bound to be overlooked, or at least by this reviewer. So it wasn’t until I saw some advertisements for Red 2 that I dug out my copy of Red and decided to give it a spin. After all we’ve got Academy Award winner Helen Mirren toting a missile launcher – that’s got to say something, right?
Willis plays Frank Moses, a retired CIA operative who lives a mundane existence in some nameless town in a boring house. His only real pleasure in life comes when he gets his pension checks and calls to claim he hasn’t received them. He’s struck up a phone relationship with Sarah (Mary Louise-Parker), an equally boring person who seems to enjoy his company. However after narrowly escaping an attempt on his life, Frank meets up with Sarah to save her. You see Frank is “RED (Retired: Extremely Dangerous)” which means that those who are trying to kill him must be pretty dangerous too. Frank’s ultimate goal is to put together his old squad, though they’ve gone their separate ways. We meet Victoria (Helen Mirren), who takes gigs out of boredom. Joe (Morgan Freeman), an 80 year old vet who’s dying of liver cancer. And then there’s Boggs (John Malkovich), a wily kook who lives in the swamp. And they’re pursued by eager agent William Cooper (Karl Urban) the entire time. This begs the obvious question – will Frank ever make it out alive?
Movies like Red are surprising because you don’t really know what to expect. And maybe it’s because of that unexpectedness that I found the movie so damn fun to watch! Yes, they actors ham it up a bit (especially Malkovich) but that’s the fun of the film. Everyone in the movie, including “lesser” roles played by Brian Cox and the late Ernest Borgnine seem to have so much fun with their respective parts, that it’s literally impossible not to get caught up in it. Yes people die, things blow up and there are plenty of guns fired but once again – that’s the fun. It’s no wonder that the film inspired a sequel and it’s one that I’m looking forward to. Red is just all kinds of fun, hands down.
Video: How does it look?
Summit Entertainment presents Red in a 2.40:1 AVC HD image that’s second to none. Detail is amazing, colors and rich and vibrant and textures are so lifelike you could reach out and feel that you could touch the image. Look at John Malkovich’s curly greyish hair, the spots on Morgan Freeman’s face and the crows feet around Willis’ eyes. Yes, these actors aren’t getting any younger but it’s a testament to the visuals that give us such a great picture. Contrast and black levels work well off one another and there’s very little else to say other than this Blu-ray is top notch in regards to visuals.
Audio: How does it sound?
Red embodies pretty much everything that we’d expect from a movie like this. Granted when I say a “movie like this” it’s really hard to classify as there aren’t too many, if any, films that really fit this genre but I think you get what I’m driving at. Vocals are rock solid, the front stage is constantly active as are the surrounds. The LFE earn their keep in this 111 minutes as well. You want the room to shake when something blows up? No problem. The DTS HD Master Audio soundtrack gives new meaning to the term “uncompressed sound” and it’s a driving force of the film. Another great effort here.
Supplements: What are the extras?
While there aren’t too many supplements of note, the ones that are included are pretty interesting. We start off with an audio commentary by retired CIA agent Robert Bear who also served as the film’s advisor. He gives plenty of information about the film as well as some interesting tidbits and factoids that really make this an interesting listen. There are several deleted and extended scenes present but the real treat is the PIP feature which is linear, though with clips from the movie and real-life factoids, it’s a very interesting experience. I’m usually not a fan of PIP features, but this one has been done right. And if you look not too hard, you’ll find “Red: VFX” which contains some footage on the film’s effects.
[message_box type=”alert” icon=”yes” close=”Hide”]There is a Blu-ray movie-only version of RED out, but you lose the supplements as well as the DTS HD Master Audio soundtrack. Get this Special Edition instead.[/message_box]
