Red

Bruce Willis delivers his usual performance, but when it comes to emotions, he's actually quite good. And clumsy. It's even more evident in the sequel. John Malkovich stands out the most, playing a great madman, paranoid Marvin, who sees agents everywhere. Well, after all, just because someone is paranoid doesn't mean they're not being followed. And when he picks up a pig, it's really a treat. The communication between the team is incredibly filled with humor, creative and interesting. Humor is the main thing that drives the movie forward, even though it also relies on the classic formula of action spy films - locations change very often, the government is somehow involved in everything, and someone we know nothing about pulls the strings. The script is sufficiently convoluted, allowing the film to truly be labeled as a spy movie. More: http://www.comics-blog.cz/2013/08/250-red-2010-70.html (08/27/2013)

The studios are well aware that there are no new acting elites being grown, and the younger ones (who are now all over 40 anyway) like Depp have expenses that could turn something like Addis Ababa into a lucrative metropolis, so they're trying to pull all the old '80s and '90s hot stuff out of the swamp to justify this totally unimaginative and perhaps illegally primal spectacle. By the way, they have themselves to blame for the acting youth, because they look for new stars based on the right curl of their bangs or the obligatory pigmentation. Red works in part because, for example, Malkovich and Mirren were quite good. But is it worth including Willis anymore just to stand there or walk around? The man has completely given up on making any effort to act and he goes through the entire film with one expression, which isn't fair for that kind of money, am I right? Anyway, it's a film shot on a vacation for all involved with horrible elevator music, resulting in a disgustingly chill out spectacle for undiscerning retirees and proponents of the notion that movies are about actors. For me, The A-Team rules. (03/21/2012)

Finally, Bruce is acting! in a good film. Red is primarily a family movie with something for everybody - granny, grandpa, mum, dad and for big and little kids alike. The plot is as old as the genre itself, and that goes for most of the cast, but it’s enough for a series of pleasant escapades for one dusty team of agents. The best portion of gags were delivered by John Malkovich who is an expert at paranoid smegheads… and this model is one of his best, by the way. Cute Karl Urban is used mainly in the action/battle passages and Schwentke’s now certainly already patented 720°shot comes off really well. Certainly a very pleasant surprise. (01/08/2011)

For Willis's exit from the spinning car, for Malkovich's mad Malkovich and his pig, for Helen Mirren standing in her evening gowns behind a machine gun, for Freeman in the nursing home and general's uniform, for Mary-Louise Parker's eyes, for Bruce's bloody brawl with Karl Urban, for Ernest Borgnine, for great action scenes like the one at the airport - which are both thrilling and entertaining - for the witty one-liners and the cool script, for Richard Dreyfuss's character, for Beck's music, and for the way the end credits roll... I give it all four and a half stars. Red is really great fun with many memorable moments, which should not be missed by any fan of action lightened with humor. I don't give it five stars only because of the occasional "too much comic-book-ness", which was especially evident in the actions of the commandos and special forces - they simply behaved like assholes (the beginning in Moses' house, the shootouts in the garages). (02/20/2011)

Schwentke would have to be more than just a learned craftsman to make RED more than just a solid film. It's pretty dynamic, but the style is taken from somewhere else, so it's definitely not consistent. The story is comic-book exaggerated, and in the film narrative it is terribly banal. But the old boys are great and are good at their jobs. In the end I had a great time, and I left with the belief that if an inventive helmsman got his hands on it, this cruise could give a lot. The way it is, it "just" entertains. (11/01/2010)