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RED 2
| Released |
2 August 2013 |
| Director |
Dean Parisot |
Starring
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Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Byung Hun Lee, Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren |
| Writer(s) |
Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber |
Producer(s)
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Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Mark Vahradian |
| Origin |
United States |
| Running Time |
116 minutes |
| Genre |
Action, comedy, crime |
| Rating |
12A |
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Scarlet for yeh!
Bruce Willis seems like a bit of a nightmare really. His awkward interview with radio DJ Jamie Edwards during the publicity junket for Red 2 is a lesson in how not to endear yourself to an audience as he accuses the journalist of being dishonest and generally refuses to engage with the light-hearted questioning (check it out on YouTube if you can stand the squirming). It almost seems like he isn’t particularly bothered with the film at all; particularly when he reacts with a sceptical “Yeh, yeh” when Edwards points out how much he enjoyed it. Well Bruce, you’re probably right to be sceptical - RED 2 is a gigantic damp squib.
The concept of the RED films is a solid one - aiming to sit directly on the line between stupid and clever, it wants to carry off its violent pensioner shtick with a constantly arched eyebrow and a wry smile. Think The Expendables for people who prefer Stephen Fry to Stephen Seagal. It should be a tremendous amount of fun but quite simply, it’s not. In this sequel, the cast thunder around Europe at breakneck speed in an attempt to disguise the fact that, plot-wise, there’s very little going on. In place of a coherent storyline, there is some flim-flam about a missing Cold War nuclear weapon and John Malkovich in a collection of silly hats.
The two rays of light in the film are Helen Mirren, who returns as the enigmatic weapons expert Victoria and newcomer villain Byung-hun Lee, who provides us with the film’s best fight scenes, even though his role is a martial arts carbon copy of the one played by Karl Urban in the first instalment. Unfortunately, both characters receive comparatively little screen-time and are sidelined in favour of countless tedious relationship spats between Bruce Willis and Mary Louise Parker, the latter of which has become the de facto lead. Her performance is at a completely different tone to the rest of the film, refusing to keep her tongue in her cheek, she is shrill and over the top. It gets old (pardon the pun) very quickly.
All in all, RED 2 is nonsense; and not in a good way. Retired, Extremely Dull.
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Linda O’Brien |
