Movies today try to blend different genres together to gain a broader audience, and none did it better in the past few years than the action-comedy Red. Well, Red 2 delivers what audiences got from its predecessor and MORE! Skeptics may find it hard to believe that a sequel can deliver the same quality that the original delivered, but fans will be pleasantly surprised in the end. Because there was such great chemistry in Red, it provided Red 2 the greatest challenge of all; will the new members hinder the quality of the first one? Keep reading and find out the answer to this question, and many more you may be pondering.
Red 2 starts with Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) and his love interest Sarah Ross (Mary-Louise Parker) as they attempt to live normal lives of anonymity after the events that transpired in Red. Frank and Sarah quickly run into an old friend, Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich), who warns them of an impending life threatening situation that’s developing. Fans of Red will remember that Marvin was constantly worried about people watching him and trying to kill him; nothing has changed. After some chaotic, and hilarious events happen; Frank is taken into custody for questioning of something he oversaw in his days working for the CIA. While being questioned, another government employee comes in to interrogate Frank in his own special way. Jack Horton (Neil McDounough) is the new pursuer who attempts to question Frank about his knowledge about a secret op from the Cold War. After that, he’s going to eliminate Frank and his knowledge. Frank narrowly escapes, and this is where all hell breaks loose.
Now that Frank is on the run, in tow with Marvin and Sarah, everyone is trying to find them, and eliminate them. An old friend, Victoria (Helen Mirren), is offered a contract to eliminate Frank. Horton takes matters into his own hands by hiring the most elite contract killer in the world, Han Cho Bai (Byung-hun Lee), to eliminate Frank. While on the run across the world, Frank runs into a former love interest, Katja (Catherine Zeta-Jones), who Sarah has zero fondness for. While securing knowledge, and avoiding those who are trying to kill them, Frank and his gang find out the information they were looking for all along. They found the man with the insights into where and what they need to help clear the whole situation up for everyone. The scatter-brained Bailey (Anthony Hopkins) made more tactical devices and came up with more weapons for countries than most could ever dream of, but will he be of much help?
Now you might ask, with all these new people added to the already stellar cast, does it take anything away? The way the characters interact, and the way the new additions were added takes nothing away from the primary cast. The character interaction actually makes sense. Catherine Zeta-Jones and Anthony Hopkins are both OSCAR winning actors, and Byung-hun Lee is a great action star as well. Adding talented actors and supplying more action just shows that this movie is pushing forward on all cylinders.
There is so much action going on that you hardly want to blink. The laughs keep coming too, and sometimes when you least expect it. As the movie starts to develop more and more, twists and turns are shelled out at an alarming rate. The transitions from location to location were delivered in a fun and different way. Fans will remember in Red, postcards were used to designate locations of where they were at different times. Red 2 uses the fact it’s based on a Graphic Novel to use the illustrations to cut from location to location. This should make fans of the book happy to read as well.
The movie continues to develop and become this thrill ride of laughs and action galore. The reason this didn’t get a full 5 Stars is that some parts dragged a little. Don’t get me wrong, there were enough laughs and explosions to satisfy everyone, but moments of lapse happened a couple times. That being said, it wasn’t enough to deter from my thorough enjoyment of Red 2. The question that remains for most is; since I enjoyed the first one, can the second live up to my expectations? I can tell you as a fan of Red that I had pretty high hopes for what Red 2 could deliver, and I left the theater wanting to see it again right away. Red 2 is a movie that allows you an escape from reality for two hours. Sit back, grab your popcorn, and enjoy the ride that is Red 2.
