Film Review: RED (2010)

Director: Robert Schwentke
Writers: Jon Hoeber & Erich Hoeber (screenplay), Warren Ellis & Cully Hamner (graphic novel)
Running time: 111 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 12A

Genre: Action/Comedy/Crime
UK Release date: 22^nd October 2010

Watched on DVD Sunday 10^th March 2013.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE UNINTENTIONAL SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I waited for quite a long time for this one to turn up in the TV listings but alas it hasn’t yet. Being a resourceful sort I decided to check out the price of the DVD and, deeming it low enough, I duly bought said disc. Now, having gone to all that trouble, I’m glad to report it was worth the effort. It may never win any awards, but it’s very entertaining and everything ‘The Expendables’ isn’t. Here’s a brief summary before I give you my thoughts.

Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) is a retired CIA agent; he lives alone and one of his few pleasures is to chat to the girl at the pension’s office, Sarah Ross (Mary-Louise Parker). All is peaceful until one night a team goes into his house and tries to kill him. Of course Frank escapes and picks up Sarah en-route to New Orleans. With the attempt on Frank’s life a failure, back at the CIA, Cynthia Wilkes (Rebecca Pidgeon) puts agent William Cooper (Karl Urban) on the case. By the way, it’s “off the books”. Frank turns to his old contacts for help; first Joe Matheson (Morgan Freeman) who points him in the direction of a murdered reporter. Having discovered a list of names, he next contacts Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich). More information brings in the Russians in the guise of Ivan Simanov (Brian Cox); and finally there’s Victoria (Helen Mirren). Piecing the parts of the puzzle together there’s a connection to a massacre in Guatemala and the only one left who can identify the man responsible is Alexander Dunning (Richard Dreyfuss). But can they get him to talk? And if they do, who will be their next target? I guess that’s enough for now. Oh, before I close this section I’d like to give a mention for Ernest Borgnine who plays Henry, The Records Keeper at the CIA; it’s always a pleasure to see him on screen.

I must say this film does exactly what it says on the tin; it’s brash, explosive and it also has some humour splattered about in there. I did like Bruce Willis in this one; some of his wise cracks put me in mind of his character David Addison in “Moonlighting” (an old TV show for those too young to remember it). I loved John Malkovich as the, almost paranoid, member of the team; he added some great comic moments. Helen Mirren was great (as ever), as was Richard Dreyfuss as the bad guy and Brian Cox. Also a mention fro Karl Urban who played his role with great aplomb; he’ll go far I’m sure. As to the film; well I enjoyed many aspects of it although I did find the age difference between Willis and Parker a tad creepy. Other than that, bring on the sequel! I found it a lot of fun and everything ‘The Expendables’ isn’t; well worth the price of the disc.

SteelMonster’s verdict: RECOMMENDED

My score: 6.9/10.

IMDb Score: 7.0/10 (based on 128,034 votes when this review was written).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1245526/

MetaScore: 61: (Based on 37 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 72/100 (based on 193 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 72/100 (based on 113,777 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/red/

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
[first lines]
Frank Moses: [on the phone] 943-66-2291. Pension Services, please.
Woman: Thank you, Mr. Moses, please hold for your representative.

Sarah Ross: Get back. Go away. Stay away from me! Is that my bag?
Frank Moses: Yeah.
Sarah Ross: You packed it?
Frank Moses: Yes.
Sarah Ross: D' D' Did you vacuum?
Frank Moses: A little yeah, it was messy.

Marvin Boggs: Do you know what's wrong with this country?
Sarah Ross: They all are trying to kill us?
Marvin Boggs: Exactly!

Henry, The Records Keeper: Frank Moses was one of the most effective black op agents we've ever had. He retired drug-lords, terrorists. Hell, he toppled governments. Yeah. He was truly gifted.
William Cooper: Why was he retired?
Henry, The Records Keeper: He got old. Then some thumb-sucker came along and tagged him "RED".
William Cooper: Red?
Henry, The Records Keeper: Yeah, RED. R-E-D, "Retired, Extremely Dangerous".

Victoria: [pleasantly] In all the years I've known Francis, I've never seen him like this. So if you break his heart, I will kill you. And bury you body in the woods.
Sarah Ross: Wow. Okay.

Ivan Simanov: [Riding in the car after everything is over. To Moses] You still owe me favor.
Victoria: [Getting pissed off at Ivan] Oh Ivan!
[turns to the others]
Victoria: His timing is terrible!
Ivan Simanov: Just a tiny little nuclear problem in Moldova.

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Official Site: http://www.red-themovie.com/
(Currently publicising ‘RED 2’)
Trailer:

Film Review: JONAH HEX (2010)

Director: Jimmy Hayward
Running time: 81 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Action/Drama/Fantasy
UK Release date: 3^rd September 2010

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 27^th August 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I was quite excited when I first heard about this film, the premise looked really great. It’s funny how a great looking idea can be turned into something really terrible though. I know I occasionally have to look at a bad film if just to remind me how good the great ones are, but this was truly awful. I will tell you more after this brief summary.

Jonah Hex is a survivor of the American Civil War, brutally scarred by Quentin Turnbull, the man who murdered his wife and son as he looked on helpless. After this, Hex was taken in by the Crow Indians who healed him, well almost, he found he could speak to the dead. He left and became a bounty hunter, until the day he gets word from the government that Turnbull is alive. It’s now all about revenge for Hex, who is out for blood and nobody is going to stop him. I’ll leave it there, there is more but the Spoiler Police will have me fired from a cannon if I say anything else.

As I said at the beginning, the premise of this film was quite appealing, the execution, however, was quite appalling. As far as the performances go, well, everyone was professional but the material they had to work with was woeful. So, honourable mentions go to; Josh Brolin as Jonah Hex, John Malkovich, who I can’t believe took the part of Quentin Turnbull, Megan Fox, who played, well, Megan Fox as Lilah and finally, Michael Fassbender as Burke. If I was any of these performers I would be having very serious words with my agent.

It has the distinction of attaining the lowest score of any film I’ve watched so far this year (162 at this point in time). The dialogue was turgid and didn’t really go anywhere and most of the action happens at night so it’s very hard to follow. On the plus side (rare, I know, for this one), I thought the make up effect for Hex’s scar was very well done. I do try to watch all films with an open mind, but this was just awful… NOT recommended.

My Score: 3.2/10.

IMDb Score: 4.6/10 (based on 17,723 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1075747/

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 12/100 (based on 142 reviews counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jonah_hex/

FAVOURITE QUOTE:
Jonah Hex: Keep him fed and watered. Don’t you tie him up. If I don’t come back for a spell, he’ll know it. He’ll head out on his own way.
Boy: He got a name?
Jonah Hex: Yeah. Horse.
[to the dog]
Jonah Hex: You. Yeah, I... I don’t what to say to you.

LINKS:
Official Site: http://jonah-hex.warnerbros.com/dvd/
Trailer:

Film Review: BURN AFTER READING (2008)

Director: Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
Running time: 92 mins (approx)
Certificate (UK): 15

Watched on Sky+ Friday 25th September 2009.

PLEASE NOTE: POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I’ll admit to being a bit of a fan of some of the Coen brother’s work, particularly their comedies. This is, without doubt, the best one since The Big Lebowski (1998), a film for which I still have great affection. Enough about me, there’s a great cast, a very funny story, if a little complicated at times, and a lot of laughs. I certainly enjoyed it, but I’ll tell you a bit about the plot before I go on…

Osbourne Cox is a CIA analyst who has been in the job a long time when his superiors decide his time has come to leave. He decides to write a memoir no that he has some free time, a copy of which ends up in the hands of Linda Litzke and Chad Feldheimer, two employees of a Georgetown gym. Linda wants plastic surgery and has been turned down by her health insurance and Chad, well; he’s just an amiable goof. The incompetent pair tries to blackmail Cox, only to discover that he’s not playing ball. The plot is complicated by a relationship between Linda and Harry Pfarrer, who is also having an affair with Cox’s wife Katie. Got it so far? Having failed to persuade Cox to part with any money, the conspirators decide to go to the Russians. I won’t say any more, you’ll have to watch it…

I loved Frances McDormand in Fargo (1996) and she was even better in this as Linda Litzke. Great performances from the entire cast, particularly George Clooney as Harry Pfarrer, Brad Pitt was really good as Chad Feldheimer, John Malkovich as Osbourne Cox and Tilda Swinton as Katie Cox. As I said, a great cast. The production was good too, it was like a modern twist on a fifties screwball comedy. The only thing I felt that let it down was the way the ending was done. It was done through narrative rather than letting it be played out on the screen, which IMHO I found rather disappointing, apart from that, a really fine effort!

My score: 7.5/10

LINKS:
IMDb Site: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0814022/
Official Site: http://www.filminfocus.com/focusfeatures/film/burn_after_reading