Seeing RED

'RED' was a sleeper hit and one of the great success stories of 2010.  The movie made an underwhelming $22.5 million on its opening weekend (behind 'Jackass 3D' which drew a younger audience), but went on to eventually surpass the erstwhile #1 movie in America by grossing nearly $200 million worldwide, proving that there is hope for humanity after all.
 

It is no surprise then that the surviving senior citizens of "Retired, Extremely Dangerous" are back for a second go-round in a bigger sequel.  This time, domesticated Frank and paranoid-as-ever Marvin find themselves the target of state-sanctioned assassination again when their names are published on the internet associated with a Cold War top-secret mission involving the smuggling of a 1-megaton nuclear device piecemeal via diplomatic pouch into the Soviet Union called 'Operation Nightshade.'  Mary Louise-Parker reprises her role as Frank's bored-with-her-mundane-life girlfriend, Sarah, and Helen Mirren returns as MI6 assassin Victoria, but 'RED 2' is decidedly younger with the addition of two fresh faces in Catherine Zeta-Jones and South Korean star Lee Byung-hun, both at the 'tender young age' of 43.

'RED 2' is quite a bit more action-packed and globe-trotting than its predecessor, but with the back story out of the way there is no need to slow down for character development.  With the addition of Katya (Zeta-Jones) and Han (Lee), as well as Sir Anthony Hopkins' Dr. Bailey, the movie is also busier with more subplots and 'complications,' like the tongue-in-cheek love triangle between Frank, Sarah and Katya. 
 

Still, 'RED 2' is a tad too déjà vu and predictable.  The cool 'fish-tailing car entry' technique is repeated in 'RED 2,' and there's a ludicrous scene in which Victoria pointed pistols out of both windows of a spinning car and still hitting moving targets.  Also, who didn't predict Victoria playing sniper and saving the day again when Frank, Marvin and Sarah were on the firing line, or that somehow the bomb is still on Han's plane when Frank got off?  Never mind the movie's disregard for common sense in its portrayal of a 1-megaton airburst as harmless with a tiny blast radius (destroying only the plane and its occupant) and telling us it's okay to stare into it. 

Grade: B

La Femme Katya likes her guns and wine