RED

Is this the year of CIA agents vs. Corrupt System movies?

Already, there was The Losers, Knight and Day, Salt, and the yet-to-be released Fair Game. And now this film, which like the first listed, is taken from a DC published comic book.

As Ernest Borgnine explains in his cameo role as Henry the Records Keeper, RED, the film’s title stands for “Retired, Extremely Dangerous.” And that’s what Frank Moses (Bruce Willis), former CIA agent, happens to be.

Which means that the wetsuit hit squad sent after him in his home should’ve known better. A LOT BETTER.

Realizing that bad guys want to silence him over what he knows about a shady Military Operation back in the ‘80s, Moses goes on the run with his only friend, Sarah (Mary Louise Parker). He then assembles his old CIA buddies Joe (Morgan Freeman), Boggs (John Malkovich), Victoria (Helen Mirren) and Ivan (Brian Cox) for a mission against the enemy.

And the enemy is a shady man named Alexander Dunning (Richard Dreyfus), given away a bit too early by his smug body language. Cooper (Karl Urban), the CIA agent sent after the heroes, is much better at portraying the film’s Javert type. And Malkovich steals every scene as the Looney Boggs.

At heart, this is an action comedy, unlike the gravely serious graphic novel. Director Robert Schwentke and his crew get the action right, and the actors, by playing off each other, get the comedy to come out fine. Now, the only thing that could improve it is a polishing of the script to clarify some confusion.