# RED (Blu-ray; Summit Entertainment/DC Comics)



## Osage_Winter (Apr 8, 2010)

[img]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_55vkNlmXx24/TUDsF4-KBaI/AAAAAAAAAyc/ifw3Zhc48kI/s1600/Red+-+Blu-ray.jpg[/img]*Releasing/Participating Studio(s): Summit Entertainment/DC Comics
Disc/Transfer Information: Region A Locked; High Definition 1080p 2.40:1 (Original Aspect 2.39::1)  
Video Codec Information: MPEG-4 AVC 25GB Blu-ray Disc
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 111 Minutes
Tested Audio Track: English Dolby Digital 5.1
Director: Robert Schwentke
Starring Cast: Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Karl Urban, Richard Dreyfuss


RETIRED – EXTREMELY DANGEROUS.


PLOT ANALYSIS:*

Refreshingly different for a so-called “action comedy” genre entry, Rob Schwentke’s _RED_ showcases the “careers” of some dangerous ex-CIA types/operatives that are now retired – one in fact living in an old-age home – yet still have some skills that would make you run for your life naked through a freezing wilderness. We even get one of the last – if not THE last – performances from the late great Ernest Borgnine, portraying a decades-old CIA records officer. But what got me, perhaps, the most was seeing the “DC Comics” moniker attached to the pre-opening credits sequence – what?! Was this possibly explored in a comic book at one point?

_RED_ – which is a CIA designation within the film for operatives that are “Retired but Extremely Dangerous” – contains some good, solid performances from its leads, notably John Malkovich who plays an off-the-wall ex-operative once teamed up with Willis’ character and who is so paranoid about everyone and everything around him, he has transformed into a complete nutjob. The problem I have with casting Bruce Willis in, yet again, one of these kinds of “actioners” – whether they are funny or serious – is that we just cannot help but see John McClane from _Die Hard_ when he speaks, acts or tries to make a facial gesture. Specifically, his role here – like all his roles of late outside the disappointing _Good Day to Die Hard_ – smacks of his McClane portrayal, almost word for word and gesture for gesture, in _Live Free or Die Hard_. Down to his bald head, the portrayals here are nearly identical and it seems to me he is becoming almost a “caricature” of himself a la De Niro, Pacino, etc.; I just don’t buy him as anyone else other than a burned-out McClane at this point. 

The plot sets itself up rather quickly. Willis’ character appears to be making a girlfriend of sorts with Mary-Louise Parker’s pension agent character, with whom he speaks to on an almost daily basis to complain about his government checks he’s supposed to be getting. We see he still hasn’t lost his skills when an army of black-camouflaged hit men besiege upon his house, blowing everything up and looking to kill him with machine guns. He quickly disposes of these guys with incredibly agile martial arts and counter-intelligence training, but leading him to wonder who would want him dead. He actually goes to Parker’s home state and waits for her in her house – much to her shock – where he explains she must come on this journey with him to discover who was after him, but before he can even finish explaining what’s going on, more hit men find them at her place and begin attacking. Escaping with their nerves frayed and in the nick of time, Willis and Parker make their way across the country – as we see post card graphics from all the places they’re going fill the screen between shots – where Willis begins to enlist the aid of his old teammates before they retired, starting with Malkovich. Now residing in some bizarre swamp location in Louisiana, Malkovich has become a reckloose, living in camouflage outfits in a compound he built under the ground. Of course, once Willis explains the situation to him, he’s along for the ride, as is Morgan Freeman’s character, now living in a home for the senile and old. With some research, it’s discovered that some Asian _New York Times_ reporter living in New York’s Chinatown is somehow involved in this scheme (probably for exposing the names of some CIA agents in an article), and eventually it’s unraveled that the vice president of the United States – played by none other than _Fantastic 4_’s Doctor Victor Doom himself – is involved in all of it as well, and wants anyone associated with a deal that went sour years ago, agents included, dead. 

Enter Helen Mirren’s character who can kick butt with the best of them, now living in the “Eagle’s Nest” and off the grid – she was, apparently, what Judi Dench’s “M” is to Bond and the rest of the MI6 team. She too joins the boys on the adventure to try and find out who wants them dead and why – while Parker continues to tag along, courting a strange romance with Willis. Eventually, the team concocts a plot to break into CIA headquarters in Langley to obtain information, where Willis meets a highly trained operative working for the current director, leading to a bloody hand-to-hand fist fight in his office. This agent is now on Willis’ tail the rest of the film, which begins to set up the whole vice president angle and which also introduces Richard Dreyfuss’ character, a lowlife corporate exec of some kind in bed with all sorts of friends in low places. Posing as “foreign dignitary buyers” interested in Dreyfuss’ services, Willis and his team infiltrate Dreyfuss’ sprawling home and demand to know what role he is playing in these assassination attempts, eventually leading to Willis’ plan to actually kill the vice president for targeting them. Along the way are funny hijinks involving Malkovich acting nutty and getting into some sweeping, incredibly choreographed gunfights and more, until finally the team hatch a plan to take down the vice president at a fund raiser he’s at.

It ends up being exposed that the vice president wasn’t really the one who wanted those operatives involved in the foreign scandal all those years ago dead now – it was Dreyfuss, who was so corrupt and twisted that he…oh, never mind; at this point, _RED_ gets a bit tiring and what’s worse, we lose Freeman’s character along the way, sacrificing himself during one of the operations because he figures he’s dead anyway, what with his diagnosis of a final stage of cancer. What was kind of stupid was the concluding frame, depicting all the guys driving away while Willis and Parker make out in the back seat; something was odd about the pairing of these two from the very beginning, and you’re telling me this chick wanted to start a relationship with a guy much older than her that was an ex-CIA operative and who is now always on the run and basically met her via telephone calls about his pension checks (which turns out to be a lie as well, as Willis admits to her that he ripped the checks up anyway and was just calling her because “he liked her”)? 

This was a pretty funny action flick, and definitely worth a rental; I don’t know if this would have repeat viewing benefits, as it kind of dips into that “aging stars attempting to put down their Ben Gay tubes and pretend they can still kick your tail” area, and I still can’t get past Willis’ tendency to look, sound and act just like his McClane character from the last two sequels in that franchise…but this is a fun evening’s entertainment if for nothing more than to watch Malkovich in one of his nuttiest roles ever. 

[img]http://www.thefilmpilgrim.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Bruce-Willis-RED.jpg[/img]*VIDEO QUALITY ANALYSIS: HOW DID THE DISC LOOK?*

_RED_, as presented by Summit Entertainment, looked fantastic on Blu-ray – the 1080p encode glistened with clarity, noise-free characteristics and image pop that puts it on the top of the list of currently-released visual gems. Closeups of faces – notably Willis’ – exhibited incredible detail and depth, showing off facial hairs, blisters, irregularities and even stage makeup as if it was under a microscope. Colors were accurately saturated, skin tones appeared on and dialed in and film grain appeared to be nowhere in sight. 























[img]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_JXxKsK5uQIo/TMvY1vaSKnI/AAAAAAAAA4k/Eq63Xxgw4qM/s1600/redfilm.jpg[/img]*AUDIO QUALITY ANALYSIS: HOW DID THE DISC SOUND?*

Curiously – and I suspect for budgetary reasons given the nature of the studio – Summit has elected to give _RED_ a lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mix on its Blu-ray release. No matter; the audio was stunningly effective here, not requiring all that goosing of master volume to heat up or get going and exhibiting wild swings of dynamics. Bullets, explosions, shell casings and other elements flew around the soundstage and into the proper surround channels when called upon, and while there was a distinct lack of ultra-low LFE on the track, the audio served the film’s purpose well and more than sufficiently. 














*FINAL THOUGHTS:*

A good rental to check out, and some amusing performances by the likes of Malkovich, Mirren and even Brian Cox, who shows up as a renegade Russian officer that had a “fling” with Mirren’s character in the past and that ends up helping the team with their mission of finding out who wants them dead inside the CIA. If anything, _RED_ portrays some elements that won’t make you too comfortable in terms of “how easy” some of the breeching of CIA headquarters MAY be – or at least how they make it seem – but watching Malkovich fire an anti-rocket bullet into a shoulder-firing rocket released by a female CIA agent on their tails after she calls him “old man” and blowing her up and into a ball of fire while he says back _“old man my a**”_ made it worth the price of admission alone…

I will be posting up my review of _Fair Game_, starring Sean Penn, on DVD next!


----------



## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

I love this movie! Ive watched it with many different people and never had anyone say they didn't like it. It even got a thumbs up from a friend who is the worst film critic's I know LOL.


----------



## Osage_Winter (Apr 8, 2010)

tonyvdb said:


> I love this movie! Ive watched it with many different people and never had anyone say they didn't like it. It even got a thumbs up from a friend who is the worst film critic's I know LOL.


Cool, Tony; thanks for the input...

I thought it was good, but not enough to warrant a purchase.


----------



## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Red 2 will be in theaters next month. I think a person needs to go into this film knowing that its intentionally totally over the top and just fun to watch. If you do its great laughs.


----------



## Osage_Winter (Apr 8, 2010)

tonyvdb said:


> Red 2 will be in theaters next month.


Indeed? 



> I think a person needs to go into this film knowing that its intentionally totally over the top and just fun to watch. If you do its great laughs.


Right; I pointed out that this was an "action comedy" -- as is stated clearly on the optical disc variants of its release via the packaging -- and if you take it for what it is, it does offer some good chuckles...I just don't (personally) see it as having much repeat play value...


----------



## B- one (Jan 13, 2013)

Man your a tough cookie. . I have watched it several times it still cracks me up. The " part 2" scares me as they normally do. I must admit I can watch most movies several times and still not really remember them. That's why your great reviews are so impressive to me.


----------



## Osage_Winter (Apr 8, 2010)

B- one said:


> Man your a tough cookie. . I have watched it several times it still cracks me up. The " part 2" scares me as they normally do. I must admit I can watch most movies several times and still not really remember them. That's why your great reviews are so impressive to me.


Oh, I didn't think it was horrible, at all, B -- as I pointed out, we did get chuckles from it and, as Tony and I have been discussing, if you take it for what it is, an action comedy, it gets the job done. I just don't personally see myself as "having" to own it, ya know? :bigsmile:


----------



## B- one (Jan 13, 2013)

We just buy a lot of movies, because I'm lazy it's easier to buy it for $12 used on blu of course. I am getting better and buying less, I'm running low on room unless I figure out more storage.


----------



## Osage_Winter (Apr 8, 2010)

I understand.


----------



## Mike Edwards (Mar 10, 2011)

I'm with Tony on this one. LOVED the movie. the more times I watch it , the more I appreciate the camp and just "fun" nature of the movie. the 2nd one looks like it could be a lot of fun too.


----------



## Osage_Winter (Apr 8, 2010)

Indeed; seems like that's the concensus here...most seemed to have loved it. While I don't share quite that level of enthusiasm, the sequel will probably make for some entertaining few hours as well.

The biggest problem I had with this film -- and I simply cannot apologize for it no matter how hard I try -- was Willis' tendency to continue playing that "burned out McClane" rendition through every move of his lips, cheeks, hiss of dialogue delivery and sneers...I just can't get past the parallel of this role with nearly everything else he does as of late. This is getting tiring and, quite frankly, old/long in the tooth already; it's like he just doesn't know how to act any other way, and, as I pointed out, this performance in particular to me smacked of his rendition of McClaine in _Live Free or Die Hard_ what with the cool, quiet, abrupt replies to characters speaking to him, that sense of being worn out and tired in his gestures and even those facial smirks and responses...I couldn't help but see him, as I sat through _RED_, sitting there next to Justin Long asking him why he doesn't like Creedence Clearwater Revival and how it truly defines classic rock...


----------



## Mike Edwards (Mar 10, 2011)

you can tell that Malkovich just had waaaaaaaaaaay too much fun in the first one.


----------



## B- one (Jan 13, 2013)

Mike Edwards said:


> you can tell that Malkovich just had waaaaaaaaaaay too much fun in the first one.


He was my favorite part of the movie


----------



## Osage_Winter (Apr 8, 2010)

Indeed, I pointed out Malkovich's nuttyness in the review -- he definitely was a highlight and makes the film worth watching...he's good in these off-the-wall roles, though; recall his "Cyrus the Virus" character in _Con Air?_ :rofl:

Hey, B -- did you catch the other film I reviewed before this one, _Margin Call?_ Did you ever see it?


----------



## ericzim (Jun 24, 2012)

Osage_Winter said:


> Indeed, I pointed out Malkovich's nuttyness in the review -- he definitely was a highlight and makes the film worth watching...he's good in these off-the-wall roles, though; recall his "Cyrus the Virus" character in _Con Air?_ :rofl:


I liked this one as well, thought it was a pretty good comedy action movie. Even funnier than Bullet to the Head (Stallone has a lot of one liners) which I watched last night. Con Air was excellent. Haven't seen Margin Call yet.


----------



## Mike Edwards (Mar 10, 2011)

Osage_Winter said:


> Indeed, I pointed out Malkovich's nuttyness in the review -- he definitely was a highlight and makes the film worth watching...he's good in these off-the-wall roles, though; recall his "Cyrus the Virus" character in _Con Air?_ :rofl:
> 
> Hey, B -- did you catch the other film I reviewed before this one, _Margin Call?_ Did you ever see it?


yeah, I watched "Margin Call" last year on netflix. it was a fun flick. Very well done for a limited indie movie. Not exactly one that I'd rewatch anytime soon but I enjoyed it


----------



## Osage_Winter (Apr 8, 2010)

ericzim said:


> I liked this one as well, thought it was a pretty good comedy action movie. Even funnier than Bullet to the Head (Stallone has a lot of one liners) which I watched last night. Con Air was excellent. Haven't seen Margin Call yet.


_Bullet to the Head_ has been released on home video formats already? I have NO indication of that via my press contacts...

I have been waiting for this one; was this a Lions Gate release?


----------



## Osage_Winter (Apr 8, 2010)

Mike Edwards said:


> yeah, I watched "Margin Call" last year on netflix. it was a fun flick. Very well done for a limited indie movie. Not exactly one that I'd rewatch anytime soon but I enjoyed it


"Fun"? :dontknow:


----------



## ericzim (Jun 24, 2012)

Bullet won't be officially out in retail until July. It has been released in limited quantities to places like Family Video for "management" previewing. I am friends with "management" and I have a better setup for previewing LOL. I think this one is a Warner Brothers release.


----------



## Osage_Winter (Apr 8, 2010)

ericzim said:


> Bullet won't be officially out in retail until July. It has been released in limited quantities to places like Family Video for "management" previewing. I am friends with "management" and I have a better setup for previewing LOL. I think this one is a Warner Brothers release.


I couldn't even get an answer from any of my major press contacts about this title; it was like an obscure reference to them for some reason...lol...

I remember that, but can't, for the life of me, remember which studio was putting this out and which reps I reached out to...:unbelievable: :coocoo: :coocoo: :dumbcrazy:


----------



## Mike Edwards (Mar 10, 2011)

Osage_Winter said:


> I couldn't even get an answer from any of my major press contacts about this title; it was like an obscure reference to them for some reason...lol...
> 
> I remember that, but can't, for the life of me, remember which studio was putting this out and which reps I reached out to...:unbelievable: :coocoo: :coocoo: :dumbcrazy:


Bullet is a Warner brothers title and isn't released till July 16th


----------



## Osage_Winter (Apr 8, 2010)

Right -- Warner; okay. That would be Barry Ziehl at "Consumer Products" I deal with, or Jack Horner at "Feature Films"...I gotta shoot them another email regarding the details about this launch because I was looking forward to it...


----------



## ericzim (Jun 24, 2012)

Osage_Winter said:


> Right -- Warner; okay. That would be Barry Ziehl at "Consumer Products" I deal with, or Jack Horner at "Feature Films"...I gotta shoot them another email regarding the details about this launch because I was looking forward to it...


Seems to me I saw an add online about the title available for pre-order.


----------



## Mike Edwards (Mar 10, 2011)

ericzim said:


> Seems to me I saw an add online about the title available for pre-order.


yup, Amazon put it up a few days ago

http://www.amazon.com/Bullet-Head-B...1370743005&sr=1-1&keywords=bullet+to+the+head


----------



## ericzim (Jun 24, 2012)

Mike Edwards said:


> yup, Amazon put it up a few days ago
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Bullet-Head-B...1370743005&sr=1-1&keywords=bullet+to+the+head


Wow, 25 bucks!!!!!! It wasn't that good :unbelievable: probably worth a rental. I plan on watching Broken Arrow tonight with the Mrs. Another Blu-ray gem from the 5 buck bin.


----------



## Mike Edwards (Mar 10, 2011)

ericzim said:


> Wow, 25 bucks!!!!!! It wasn't that good :unbelievable: probably worth a rental. I plan on watching Broken Arrow tonight with the Mrs. Another Blu-ray gem from the 5 buck bin.


pre-orders are usually high when they are announced. it'll drop to $19.99 by release date when someone has a release week sale on it. always the way it is with pre-orders


----------



## Osage_Winter (Apr 8, 2010)

Sometimes I get certain versions of releases that don't include the commercially available elements, thus why I, at times, reach out to certain folks I know at the home video divisions of these studios to request specific titles (they will be sent in a variant a bit different from the ones even available to pre-order via outlets like Amazon, GEMM.com etc.)...


----------



## ericzim (Jun 24, 2012)

Osage_Winter said:


> Sometimes I get certain versions of releases that don't include the commercially available elements, thus why I, at times, reach out to certain folks I know at the home video divisions of these studios to request specific titles (they will be sent in a variant a bit different from the ones even available to pre-order via outlets like Amazon, GEMM.com etc.)...


Sort of like what is made available to places like a video rental business from suppliers and venders to preview and determine how many will be ordered for stock on hand. The packaging was different than what is shown on Amazon for Bullet, almost a generic look to it with the copyright info on the case and also on the disk label. Did you have any luck getting an early viewing Osage?


----------



## Osage_Winter (Apr 8, 2010)

ericzim said:


> Sort of like what is made available to places like a video rental business from suppliers and venders to preview and determine how many will be ordered for stock on hand. The packaging was different than what is shown on Amazon for Bullet, almost a generic look to it with the copyright info on the case and also on the disk label. Did you have any luck getting an early viewing Osage?


I shot off an email to one of my contacts at Warner -- because it's the weekend, I haven't heard anything...

In other review news, I have my review of _Source Code_ on Blu-ray up now...:T


----------

