REDs 1 & 2

This is the first of my trilogy of blogs on movies with excellent sequels, the RED-Ass-Burgundy Trilogy.

RED.  Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) thought he had retired from “The Company” (CIA), but his life gets considerably more interesting when masked intruders break into his house in an unsuccessful attempt to kill him – instead of simply banishing him to a boring little village until he reveals why he retired.  He shanghai’s his pension case worker Sarah Ross (Mary Louise Parker, best known as Nancy Botwin from “Weeds”) and off they go across the US in a Big Adventure, the primary purpose of which is to find out who is trying to kill him and why.  Along the way they pick up old buddy Joe (Morgan Freeman), paranoid maniac Marvin (John Malkovich) (maybe not as paranoid as he appears), MI6 assassin Victoria (Helen Mirren) and KGB counterpart Ivan (Brian Cox).   Even Richard Dreyfuss has an amusing role in this whole thing.  RED stands for “Retired, Extremely Dangerous”, which all these old folks definitely prove to be.

            Naturally they get some official scrutiny from a currently serving CIA badass Cooper (badass Karl Urban) who senses that his boss isn’t being completely forthcoming in the information department. 

            Like “True Lies”, the movie is simultaneously a parody of the action shoot-em-up big explosion genre, but also an excellent example of the genre in its own right.  Like that film, its charm is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously.  Because of that, it’s a blow-‘em-up film that the female half of the couple can watch and enjoy too, not rolling her eyes like “you KNOW I hate these films!” but loving it almost as much as the male half does.

RED 2.   Apparently “RED” was successful enough to merit a sequel and a larger budget.  While the first film was 100% baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet, taking place in the USA (“America!  F**K yeah!”) this film got its passports stamped….

            Frank and Sarah’s domestic bliss and boredom are rudely interrupted when Marvin accosts them in Home Depot…and the fireworks begin again.  This time around a befuddled, absent-minded mad scientist who is not quite as dead as everyone assumed, Bailey (Anthony Hopkins) enters the equation.  Paris, London, and Moscow are the scenes this time around.  Ivan and Victoria return, but Cooper’s role [sympathetic adversarial US official authority figure] is taken by Jack Horton (Neal McDonough) and Katja (Catherine Zeta-Jones, as delicious here as she ever is) stops by to make Sarah jealous and uneasy.  There’s even Han (Byung-Hun Lee), a mysterious assassin whose role seems to be ….to satisfy the EEOC and put an Asian person in the film, and naturally he does martial arts.  At least it’s not Jet Li or Jackie Chan.  RED 3 will probably have to include an openly gay character, as they cavort from planet to planet. 

            Bottom line: minor cast changes, major scenery changes, but the same zany fun, explosions, and witty dialogue.  Watch them back-to-back.