RED 2
2013, 1 hr. 56 min
PG-13
Grade: C+
It’s always weird when a film that was a fairly moderate success at the box office suddenly gets a sequel — such was the case of 2010’s RED, an lightly entertaining secret agent action comedy with a splendid cast and a cute conceit. Kicking off the dog days of summer, RED 2 (that stands for Retired Extremely Dangerous) finds assassin Frank Moses (Bruce Willis, at his scowliest) and his now-girlfriend Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker) in hiding, stuck in a bit of a relationship rut until good ol’ paranoid Marvin (John Malkovich) tries to lure him back into action. One Costco trip and fake death later, the trio find themselves on the run from pretty much every nation’s government, all concerning an operation codenamed Nightshade that they have no knowledge of but were supposedly involved with. Hot on their trail are Korean assassin/snappy dresser Han (Byung-hun Lee, of the G.I. Joe movies), who has a long-standing beef with Moses and relishes the opportunity to knock him off; steely-eyed American government clean-up man Jack Horton (Neil McDonough, picking up where he left off after Justified); Russian agent and ex-Moses lover Katja (Catherine Zeta-Jones, at her tannest); and MI-6 hitwoman Victoria (Dame Helen Mirren, still the hottest thing in heels). What follows is a lot of globehopping, a murky plot involving a devastating explosive device, and lots of chase scenes and gunfights. Oh, and lots and lots of none-too-subtle product placement from the likes of Papa John’s and Pringles.
The main attraction here is the stellar cast — watching them work is a delight in itself. And yet, the film isn’t nearly as fun as it should be. The script lacks punch — a few inspired moments of comedy, usually care of Malkovich or the adorably daft Parker, are intermingled with lots and lots of plot mechanics, which tend to bog the journey down. There’s a few fun pokes at the previous films of some of the stars (a looney bin The Queen bit is fun for Mirren, and Anthony Hopkins does a nice wink to his iconic serial killer), and its in these moments that one wishes the whole film could aspire. Hopkins, as a scientist nutcase locked away for over 30 years, is a welcome addition to the strong ensemble, as is Lee, who adds some fun kung-fu fistfights to the proceedings — and the site of Dame Helen Mirren firing out both front windows of a speeding care simultaneously is almost alone worth the price of admission. Brian Cox makes the most of a limited role, but in a film sporting two of filmdom’s Hannibal Lechters, its a shame the two never share some fava beans, a bottle of chianti and some screen time together. Dean Parisot, who directed the brilliant sci-fi send up Galaxy Quest, is at the helm here, and keeps it moving as well as he can, but in the end, the script needed some expositional trimming. No need to rush to the theater — this one will play well at home.
