Seeing R.E.D.

With the amount of 'superhero' movies that came out recently, I expected R.E.D. (Retired. Extremely Dangerous) to be extremely good or extremely bad - even though it isn't about superheros, but retired spies for the C.I.A. The plot was very simple, someone in the government issued a hit list, including some retired agents, and they attempt to discover why and whom. Of course, this being an action movie, there are lots of shootings, explosives, massive machinery, and yet the hero calmly walks away.

My first thought when I saw John Malkovich appear was 'Wait...wasn't he a big part of that other movie Secretariat?!?' In any case, he pulled off his role as a kooky, paranoid ex-spy perfectly. The decoy and real houses, the tree and bush covers all fit perfectly with people's characterizations of paranoids. The use of the pig to portray dejection is amazingly kiddish, which makes it even more hilarious when we discover its true use.

Helen Mirren was the obligatory female ex-spy. Everything she did/said was about missing killing for killing's sake, and also letting drop that she took some contracts (on the side). She was cool, collected, and looked awesome in a white sheath gown. (Heroes in movies tend to wear white...so the blood stands out.) Her scene with Mary-Louise Parker was entertaining, especially because the phrase 'I'll kill you' is so frequently used, and not meant.

pic from empiremovies.com

There were, of course, some not so great shots in R.E.D. One that truly bothered me was the 360 shot showing Frank's house and neighborhood. For some reason, I felt as though the entire shot was blurry and out of focus; it kind of gave me a headache to watch it, but I am unsure whether it was just me. Another was when Frank kicked the wall next to the vault and somehow unlocked it, but when the next shot showed the inside - nothing seemed to be damaged (plus, wouldn't the records-keeper have heard the wall breaking?)

One shot that truly bothered me was the line-trace. In the scene set-up, they show Cooper outside the interrogation room with the guy tracing the line around the corner. Then for some reason, when signalling the 'keep-going' to Cooper, the director had the tracer KNOCK ON THE WINDOW to get his attention. Um...excuse me? You're both outside the freaking room!! And then, surprise surprise, when they get the actual address from the line tap, he walks it over to Cooper...a walk of about 10 steps! >.< I think the director just wanted the window knock to be honest.

pic from brucewillismovies.net

Despite those plot holes, R.E.D. had some great shots and transitions. I love that they reiterated some shots in order to emphasize them, like the clock and the vault. The transitions were done perfectly between the eye and bullet; the panning of the wall and cubicle when on the phone. I also really enjoyed the C.I.A. shots showing Sara's boredom while waiting for Frank, while Frank was frantically trying to beat Cooper in a fight. Another really good scene was the slow-motion scene of Frank stepping out of the car as it spun and just missing his leg, yet he was still and didn't move out of its way at all.

The humorous shots of Cooper sliding off the back of the limo, 'hidden' Marvin looking through the window at Victoria, and the epilogue were just icing on the cake in this movie. Overall, it was fun, well-made and I would definitely re-watch it. B+/A-