Quick Review: Red

Finally. Time to write about a movie. "Red" is actually based on a comic book miniseries, but it's not a superhero epic or something way out like Scott Pilgrim. It's an action-comedy starring a bunch of veteran actors, and it's quite fun for what it is. Bruce Willis plays Frank Moses, a retired black-ops CIA agent who's bored with his quiet suburban life and rips up his pension check each month so he has an excuse to call the office in Kansas City to report his "missing" check and talk to Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker). They've never met but he has a crush on her. An attempt on his life leads to his going to KC to protect Sarah (since he is sure his phone was wiretapped), and he also gets in touch with the former members of his black ops team (Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren) to help him find out who wants him dead. It's a pretty solid film. It had some laughs and the action scenes didn't have me rolling my eyes much at the improbability of it all. It's what a lot of the summer movies could be if someone put a bit more thought into them. I'm guessing this was released in the fall because the stars aren't young and hip.

I do have a couple of questions: why doesn't Frank have direct deposit? I think that's mandatory now if you have a bank account. And how can he call a specific out-of-town office and speak to the same representative every month? From my experience, it just doesn't work that way in the federal government. And if this has happened multiple times, shouldn't Sarah have gotten suspicious? My grade: B.