Quick Review: RED 2 (2013)

RED 2

BY CHRISTOPHER HASKELL
OCTOBER 19, 2013

Just as ridiculously over-the-top as the first installment, “RED 2” sees all the leading players return from the previous film and enter into another chase against their government. Bruce Willis and Mary-Louise Parker return as Frank Moses and Sarah Ross, left to their own devices and living an unexciting life. John Malkovich’s Marvin returns with some news that leads them on an international race against time, facing off with Helen Mirren, Neal McDonough, Byung-hun Lee, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Anthony Hopkins. The fun with “RED 2” is the multiple storylines playing out at one time. That allows for one to forget specific threads, causing highlights when characters reemerge surprisingly and bring a suspenseful nature to the film, notably including Byung-hun Lee’s role as a hitman, as he pops up unexpected on several occasions. The action is sub-par and doesn’t quite match that of the original film. The humor is also there but often lands flat, apart for some reoccurring jokes, like the stealing of Lee’s private jet and Marvin’s wacky nature. Everyone pulls off believable roles, save for Parker, who sticks out like a sore thumb through most of the film and does not quite match the dynamic that the rest of the characters share. With some standard twists and your run-of-the-mill action-comedy rigamarole, “RED 2” captures and holds attention but doesn’t offer anything more than another notch in the post of the graphic novel turned films.