Day 234: "You just got your ass handed to you by a goddamned retiree!"

Red was a surprisingly good ensemble action movie.  This is what The Expendables should have been.  Instead of trying to cram every possible action hero from the last 3 years into a movie, Red found five great actors, gave them great parts and a fun story, then set them loose.  A group of retired government assassins are being hunted, one by one, and one gets wind of the plot by escaping his own assassination.  He then recruits three of his, I guess they would be friends, but the more correct word is colleagues, to reverse the hunt and find out why they are all suddenly the targets of the government that had once employed them. Unfortunately, the leader of this counter-assassination group has taken his retirement counselor along for the ride, and she is just severely lost in all of the goings-on.  It sounds a lot more confusing than it is, and it's a blast to watch.  This is another movie that is based on a somewhat obscure graphic novel series, and they succeed in a most explosive way.  The action is highly unlikely, but damn if its not a whole lot of fun.

Bruce Willis stars as Frank Moses, the leader of this aging group of killers, and Mary-Louise Parker is the counselor/love interest, Sarah Ross.  Willis plays the role a bit stiffly, but Parker's performance as the in-over-her-head girlfriend is really funny.  Morgan Freeman, Dame Helen Mirren, and John Malkovich are the remainder of the motley assassins group.  Malkovich absolutely steals the show as the drugged out and completely paranoid Marvin Boggs.  Karl Urban, Rebecca Pidgeon, Jomes Remar and Ernest Borgnine round out the rest of the major roles.

This was a whole lot better than I was expecting, and it takes a lot to surprise me these days.  If you're in the mood for an action movie with a bit of a brain and a whole lot of kaboom, give Red as spin in your DVD player.  You wont regret it.  8.25/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!