The Gist
Mr. Moses has a calm, regular life. Everything he does is a quiet, boring routine. Get some workout in, water the avocado plant, and rip up the pension checks he receives so he can call his caseworker Sarah and flirt with her. One innocent morning Mr. Moses wakes up, goes downstairs, and finds himself under attack. Not by the forces of dullness or routine, but by a professional team of assassins. Life gets exciting again as he takes down all the assassins, creates a diversion, and escapes. Now ex-CIA agent Frank Moses is on the run from whoever is after him. He brings Sarah into the mix to keep her safe, then gathers up his old team: crazy Marvin, strategic Joe and lethal Victoria. Together, and with the help of some old allies, they've got to figure out who's after them before they get killed. But time isn't on their side, because the CIA has labeled them RED: Retired, Extremely Dangerous.
What We Think
Reviewed by Living Destiny
Run Time: 111 Minutes
Rating: PG-13
I watched this a little while ago with my family because, surprisingly enough, my mom was really pumped about it. It's surprising because the last time my mom was excited about a movie was...well...when was the last Dwayne Johnson movie? Um...anyway...the movie! I was pretty excited for it too. Steller cast of oldies, and an interesting plot. I love action-y type comedies, and this totally fit the bill. I was a little cautious though. Sure, the preview looked funny, but I've seen equally funny previews that turned out to be horrible movies. My dad says I'm a more hardened cynic than most of the adults he knows. Ah, well. I'm happy to report that the movie was not a dud, and was just as hilarious as the ads portrayed it to be.
The acting was amazing in this. First of all, Bruce Willis is awesome. Just awesome. He plays Frank really well. He's funny, but is good at playing the serious bits too. The ability to be emotionally diverse is nice to see, compared to the actors who can only play one part well (hello David Spade as creepy sleaze guy). Morgan Freeman, as we all know, is God. So even though he had a kind of small part as Joe, he was a stand out. But really, when has Morgan Freeman ever had a bad performance? So he was good as a skillful sneaky oldie. Color me stunned. Helen Mirren was totally feisty. As Victoria, she looks like this demure British grandma, but she's turns out to be this beastly assassin who can't get enough of killing people, which is pretty funny. She's literally addicted to the thrill of the kill. The star of the show, however, was John Malkovich. He was the funniest character by a long shot. Playing Marvin, he's a certifiable whack job who is overly paranoid and a little too weapon happy. It's the most amazing thing ever. He had the best lines (kudos to the writers, by the way), but he also had the best physicality and delivery. He is a phenomenal actor, and he literally had me in tears I was laughing so hard. My family and I still randomly quote him because we loved him so much. Crazy old dude has serious talent. Karl Urban is also in this movie. I tortured myself for a solid ten minutes trying to figure out where I recognized him from until my dad went "I might throw up on you". BAM! Moment of clarity! He's in Star Trek! He played Bones, for those of you who saw Star Trek. It was cool to see him in such a different part. He was more of a bad guy in this one, even though he wasn't really a bad guy. It's complicated. I kinda love him though, so seeing him in this was the icing on the cake. The only actor I didn't like was Mary-Louise Parker. I seriously thought she was on drugs the whole time. She was so loopy and out of it, like she had no idea what was happening. She giggled at totally inappropriate moments, and just acted high most of the time. I get that she's not used to the adrenaline rush of being on a mission or whatever, but if she was going for overwhelmed it was some of the worst acting I've ever seen. Ever. Stay off the meds.
The plot was really eye-catching, just from the ads. Old CIA agents getting attacked for mysterious reasons, and kicking some serious butt to figure it out? Hel-lo. I'm already interested. The whole plot was really well done. There were a few predictable bits, but only on small details. For the most part it was unexpected. There weren't any slow parts; it kept a good pace and just ran with it. This movie never lost my attention. It was very funny, right up to the end, but it had enough serious parts to make it intelligent. Overall it was a well done movie, and my cynicism was unnecessary. Although I'll always use it. Oh and John Malkovich was hysterical. So there.
Real Teen Rating ~ B+ : Worth Watching!
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