RED

Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) is just waking up from his daily routine: Using his punching bag, taking out his trash, calling his dreamgirl, Sarah Ross (Mary-Louise Parker) as she is a phone dispatcher in Kansas City, going to sleep and doing it all over again. Frank Moses is retired. Frank Moses is a scheduled out man with no thrills. Frank Moses is ex-CIA and labeled as RED: Retired. Extremely Dangerous.

Once he is attacked by a group of trained assassins, Frank flees to Kansas City to save Sarah before she is murdered by the same group. In order to find out exactly what's going on, Frank and Sarah enlist the help of other RED ex-CIA agents. There's the level-headed Joe Matheson (Morgan Freeman), Franks best friend and second-hand man, the paranoid psycho, Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich), and the beautiful, yet deadly Victoria (Helen Mirren). Together, the five are out to take their names off of any list that threatens their life of retirement and tranquility. But not if Agent William Cooper (Karl Urban) gets to them first. 

No need to beat around the bush, I love this movie. Red has it's head and heart exactly where it should be. The development of character was fantastic. Frank is enjoying life, but wishes he could spend it with a girl who truly understands him. Once he picks up Sarah, you would almost forget he was even on the run since he is constantly smiling and enjoying time with her. Sarah is stuck in her routine life of writing sappy romance novels, such as "Love's Savage Secret", and is looking for excitement that comes in the form of CIA conspiracy plots. The supporting characters are beyond fantastic. Every character steals your attention and demands more focus. Especially when they are Karl Urban and the hysterical John Malkovich. Karl Urban can play the pissed-off rookie agent in his sleep and he kills it. This leaves incredibly high hopes for his recently announced Judge Dredd film coming up. 

John Malkovich. Truth be told, I hadn't seen Malkovich in much that made me truly enjoy his acting. He seemed to play the same role and not diverse his acting chops. Now, he doesn't accomplish this in Red, by any means, but he puts on one hysterica performance as the chaotic and paranoid Marvin Boggs. Whether he's strapped to a bomb while screaming down streets in Chicago or just pulling grenade launchers out of stuffed pigs, Malkovich aces this role and brings a majority of the laughs to the screen. Not to mention how fitting it is to hear him scream. Hilarious.

Freeman and Mirren also bring some humanity to these cold-blooded killers that makes the film feel organic and helps the story flow seamlessly. Freeman dressed as a French Ambassador and Mirren behind the holds of a gun turret is enough for the ticket price alone. Parker is adorable and very funny as the unexperienced love interest of Frank Moses. Every scene she appears in, my eyes were glued. She plays the goofy and lovable girl incredibly well. And of course, Willis murders his role as Ex-CIA Frank Moses. He brings the sadness, the intensity and the charisma that comes with being a man of murder and justice. Along with this great cast, the film features Richard Dreyfuss as the questionable Alexander Dunning and Brian Cox as the russian assassin Ivan Simanoy. 

Red is everything I wanted it to be. Action-packed, hilarious and full of characters that never let the story grow stale. It won't earn any oscars or make much of a dent in the box office, but why should it? Red is razor-sharp with all it attempts and never forgets where it's roots came from. It was, after all, adapted from a DC graphic novel. Watch out, The Expendables: The real action heroes are arriving October 15th.