RED: 2-Film Collection.
The action-packed movies RED and RED 2, starring Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, and a bunch of great actors in smaller roles, arrive on 4K Ultra HD in a nice SteelBook edition. You get both Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD discs, along with digital copies of the films, but Lionsgate didn’t commission any new bonus features.
It’s a shame that Bruce Willis’s acting career is over, but RED and RED 2 — released in 2010 and 2013, respectively — showcased his ability to be a charming bad ass decades after he hit the big time in the 1988 classic Die Hard.
Both movies have been released on Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD before, but this new edition is a Walmart exclusive that comes in SteelBook with a plastic slipcover made to look like one of the dossiers from the films. The movies are found on both 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray discs, with the previous special features ported over and a code for digital copies.
RED, 2010.
Directed by Robert Schwentke.
Starring Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, Helen Mirren, Karl Urban, Rebecca Pidgeon, Brian Cox, Richard Dreyfuss, Julian McMahon, Ernest Borgnine, and James Remar.
Based on the comic book created by writer Warren Ellis and artist Cully Hammer, RED tells the story of Frank Moses, a retired CIA operative who’s living a quiet suburban life. (RED is an acronym: Retired, Extremely Dangerous.)
He enjoys flirting with Sarah Ross (Mary-Louise Parker), a woman at the call center that handles his pension checks; it’s established early on that Sarah is looking for some excitement in her life.
And, as you’d expect, that excitement arrives. By the truckload. When a group of assassins try and fail to kill Frank, he realizes that Sarah could be in danger too, and he drives to her house to protect her. She’s really freaked out by his sudden appearance, given her prior bad experiences with creepy guys, and Frank has to kidnap her to get her out of harm’s way.
From there, it’s time to get the band back together, as they say, and Frank connects with his old friends Joe (Morgan Freeman), Marvin (John Malkovich), and Victoria (Helen Mirren) while trying to stay one step ahead of CIA agent William Cooper (Karl Urban), who’s been tasked with killing Frank because of his connection to a mission in Guatemala that happened in 1981.
The plot is pretty basic, with Frank’s character arc involving being vulnerable enough to fall in love with Sarah while hers is learning to embrace the thrilling life of CIA work. Willis and Parker’s chemistry is so-so, but the all-star cast and the frenetic action make up for that.
During the film, we meet great actors in smaller roles: James Remar is a helicopter pilot who was part of that 1981 mission; Richard Dreyfus is Alexander Dunning, an arms dealer who is also on the list of people to be killed and may or may not be an ally; and Ernest Borgnine as a CIA records keeper.
There aren’t much in the way of bonus features found here, but the commentary track with retired CIA field officer Robert Baer, who was a consultant on the film, is a blast. He has a lot of interesting insight to offer, including, of course, where the movie deviates from reality when it comes to CIA retirement. Too bad the studio couldn’t land anyone else from the film or comic book.
A small batch of deleted and extended scenes and the film trailer round out the platter.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
RED 2, 2013.
Directed by Dean Parisot.
Starring Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Byung Hun Lee, Brian Cox, Neal McDonough, and David Thewlis.
The first film was a modest success, so why not continue the story, right? This time, Frank and Sarah have settled into domestic life together, including a trip to Costco and plans for a cook-out. Marvin shows up while they’re shopping, insistent that there are still bad guys hunting for them.
After Marvin’s car explodes in the Costco parking lot, Frank and Sarah attend his funeral, although Frank isn’t convinced that his old friend is really dead. I don’t think I’m spoiling anything when I say that he’s right, and soon the three of them find themselves on the run from a shady CIA agent (Neal McDonough) who wants them dead and has convinced others in the international intelligence community that they’re terrorists.
Anthony Hopkins shows up to chew a lot of scenery as Dr. Edward Bailey, who created a nuclear weapon that was smuggled into the Soviet Union as part of Operation Nightshade, and Catherine Zeta-Jones is Russian agent Katja Petrokovich, who was once romantically involved with Frank, much to Sarah’s dismay. Unfortunately, she doesn’t seem to try using a Russian accent, so her character ends up a bit flat.
Frank and Marvin were part of Operation Nightshade, of course, and their quest to learn the truth behind it takes them around the world, including Moscow and London. Victoria makes an appearance, of course, and Brian Cox returns in the role of retired Russian agent Ivan Simonov, who still loves Victoria despite the fact that she shot him once.
While the motivations driving the characters in the first movie weren’t hard to understand, they’re a bit more muddled this time around. McDonough’s character feels like a guy who’s corrupt just because the writers say so, and neither Frank nor Sarah really have arcs, although, yes, you could say that Sarah’s arc involves embracing an action-packed lifestyle. I think she already did that by getting involved with Frank, though.
This movie doesn’t feature a ton of extras either. We have the 35-minute The RED 2 Experience featurette, which focuses mostly on the action scenes and weapons used in the movie, along with a gag reel, some deleted scenes, and the theatrical trailer.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Brad Cook
