Red 2

I was a bit surprised when I heard they were making Red 2. I enjoyed the first one, but I didn’t know enough other people did to warrant a sequel. But here we are with Bruce Willis returning as Frank Moses, a retired federal agent. This time he must get his friends back together to find a hidden nuclear weapon that puts the whole world at risk. Rooted in comedy with action secondary, the film relies heavily on its actors to power the story. But when you have Willis, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren in your cast, you can put that kind of pressure on the actors.

While Willis is best known for his gruff Die Hard performances, he does very well with the more charming Frank. Now dating Mary-Louise Parker’s character from the first film, Willis presents Frank’s toughness and his more domestic side while leading the comedy in the film. The plot is a pretty straight forward spy story with impending doom at every turn. Byung hun-Lee of GI Joe fame plays a contract killer with a vendetta against Frank, so he gets some of the biggest action with the largest weapons and choreographed fights.

In addition to Lee, there aren’t many fresh elements to draw in viewers or set it apart from the first Red. But it is entertaining from beginning to end. The over-the-top Malkovich has a strong chemistry with Willis, and a quick pace keeps things exciting. The twists and turns are in line with the scale of the film. If things got too serious we’d lose touch with what Red, which happens to stand for “retired extremely dangerous,” is, a goofy action movie. It’s not the best comedy or action film of the summer, but it’s still satisfying.

Each film earns either zero, a half or a full arrow in five categories. The categories are Acting, Writing/Directing, Emotion, Innovation and Overall Impression. The arrows are added up to equal the full score.