RED

I started watching this movie on DVD (pirated, of course) and it was truly a very engaging action-comedy film with a powerhouse cast of characters led by Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren among others. One review I read compared it to another recent movie, The Expendables since both films had a cast of actors of very high caliber (although a bit aging…so to speak) but the reviewer gave the film Red a better review because of a better plot. Well, I haven’t really watched The Expendables yet so I truly can’t compare…but I do agree that the movie has a riveting story since it tells of the lives of RETIRED but EXTREMELY DANGEROUS (hence, the title R.E.D.) CIA agents already living sedate and lonely lives who suddenly found themselves marked for liquidation.

So the group of retirees had no choice but to reassemble themselves once again (with the help of an old enemy – a KGB agent who happened to be an ex-lover of Helen Mirren’s character, Victoria) to find out who is trying to kill them. The film has many funny moments with John Malkovich’s crazy character providing most of the gags while Morgan Freeman keeps them all in check with his wise words and actions. I was already right smack in the middle of the engrossing film when the film suddenly faltered and just stopped altogether! You can just imagine my consternation! I felt so bitin!!! (serves me right for wathcing pirated huh!) So I had no choice but to try to find a video streaming site and thankfully, it was available in tubeplus although downloading was a bit slow. But at least, I was able to finish the movie and found that though the storyline became a bit thin through the end (since it turned out that an ex-CIA agent was behind everything and the earlier nemesis they fought – the guy running for Vice president was just a mere pawn) …it was still quite entertaining! Even the romantic angle brought by Willis and his phone pal was just enough to keep the movie balanced – definitely one of the few good films I have seen for quite some time!

(photo grabbed from IMDB)