Culture

Rating: 2/5

When Red came out in 2010 it offered a fresh, light-hearted take on spy thrillers. It also featured a seasoned cast and a skilled director. Unfortunately, while all of these ingredients where once again in the mix, somewhere in the intervening three years Red 2 lost almost all of the magic of the orginal.

Once again Bruce Willis takes the lead as retired CIA agent Frank Moses, keen to leave his old life behind and move on with his partner Sarah (Mary Louise Parker). Once again, however, he is dragged back into his dangerous old ways by his crazy pal Marvin (John Malkovich). Moses is joined in his adventures by a rag-tag group of friends played by a host of “Academy Award-something” actors such as Helen Mirren, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Anthony Hopkins.

The fact that the film’s storyline could so easily have begun with he words “once again” is the key reason it’s such a bore. The last film thrived on a public thirst for movies featuring distinguished casts taking on a threat together; with that thirst satiated, Red 2 really has nothing new or interesting to offer.

Bruce Willis is an amazing actor who proved with last year’s Looper that he still has a lot to offer. However, his performance in Red 2 was undermined by the fact that he clearly didn’t want to be there. This was the case with many of the actors, with the exception of Malkovich and Hopkins, both of whom play very convincing and amusing nutcases.

This film had “contractual obligation” written all over it. It was clear that many of the actors, the writers, and possibly even the director had all signed on for several films, and were regretting the decision. But guess what? The film has already made $100,000,000 at the box office, and thus Red 3 is already in development.

The best films are products of passion, not of contracts and box office figures. Red 2 is a clear example of the latter.