Frank Moses questions a suspect

RED – Former black-ops agent, Frank Moses, is being targeted for execution for some unknown reason. He soon realises that the nice lady he has been flirting with over the phone is also at risk and he is forced to kidnap her for her own safety. He must track down fellow retired agents for help and risk attacking heavily defended institutions if he is to stand any chance of finding out who it is who wants him and everyone he knows dead.

RED (2010) – Director: Robert Schwentke

Is RED appropriate for kids

Rating: 12

Running Length: 111 mins

Starring: Bruce Willis, Karl Urban, Mary-Louise Parker

Genre: Action, Thriller, Comedy

 

REVIEW: ‘RED’

With an ensemble cast, light-hearted tone, and themes of not underestimating those who may be perceived to be past their best, it would appear at first glance that RED (which stands for ‘Retired, Extremely Dangerous’) is trying too hard to appeal to everybody. However this isn’t a movie where many disparate elements are shouting out for attention, more it is a surprisingly seamless mixture of styles with a nice dose of self-effacing approachability that makes it stand out from the usual dumb slapstick or no brainer explosion type.

Each cast member plays up their role beautifully. Willis is stand out as the deadly but sensitive Frank Moses, a man who keeps ripping up his pension cheques so he has an excuse to call the pretty sounding Sarah in customer services. RED opens with a slow introduction to Frank, and his nervous flirting with Sarah, so that when he does unexpectedly come under attack, we are already rooting for him and his yearning for a love life. Frank goes on to enlist the old gang (including a hilariously mad-eyed John Malkovich; a sweet but lethal Helen Mirren; and a vodka soaked old Russian operative deftly played by Brian Cox) but even as the ensemble grows, the movie does not lose its approachability or focus. Karl Urban is superb as the straight-laced agent who isn’t given quite enough information when tasked with taking down Frank. His antagonist character prevents the movie from sinking into generic bad guy territory and adds a further element of humanity to proceedings.

RED is an excellent example of what a correctly balanced action movie can be. Director Schwentke ensures that the movie never falls into the trap of alternating tone so that the audience gets action, then comedy, then action, and never the twain shall meet. It isn’t too violent, it isn’t too silly, it isn’t too gooey-eyed love story and it isn’t afraid to ensure that everything is glued together with some genuine threat and seriousness. The result is an exciting and genuinely funny action movie populated by the retirees of espionage.

CONTENT: IS ‘RED’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

The majority of the potentially unsuitable content in RED relates to violence, but that is not to say it is an excessively violent film. We will specify the strongest instances below as examples.

Early in the film some masked men break into Frank’s home. As he retaliates he grabs one of them by the back of the head and breaks their neck. This is done very quickly but does feature some cracking sounds. It is no more violent than a usual action movie neck break moment.

When Agent Cooper (played by Urban) is introduced he is in the process of setting up a room to make someone’s death look like a suicide. We see the victim with a rope around his neck and standing on a chair. When Cooper kicks away the chair the camera cuts down so only the victim’s legs are visible. His legs thrash briefly before stopping. We don’t see the man’s face or upper body after this point. Cooper is talking to his family on the phone whilst doing this and there is no focus on the suffering or death of the victim.

At one point an envelope is opened by Frank and we see that it is full of severed fingers. The fingers are not bloody and they are only present for a practical use, although it is clear that Frank must have cut them off of the hands of some people who attacked him earlier on. Throughout the film there is rarely any blood and if there is it is minimal, usually attributable to face injuries from fist fights. The one instance where there is clearly some blood is when one of the main characters is shot and a red patch grows on their clothing. This character winces in pain but the moment does not last longer than a minute or two before it becomes clear what the outcome will be.

There are a few moments of explosions engulfing ‘bad guys’. A grenade is launched at one and as it explodes there is a brief shot where the man’s limbs fly off of the screen, although this is a blink and you’ll miss it moment. Similarly one throws a grenade and has it batted back towards him. He lifts his forearm and twists backwards to avoid it but is quickly obscured by the fireball.  Shortly after a Rocket Propelled Grenade is fired and when it explodes the fireball shoots backwards and consumes a person, although we do not see the flames actually hit the person.

There are a few mild sexual moments. Sarah, when rescued by Frank, has stripped down to some under garments that show her cleavage, although not too prominently. She is stuck wearing this for the first 20 – 30 minutes of the movie. During one punch up scene there is a slightly racy poster of a woman seen briefly on a wall. One character pretends that his TV is broken purely so an attractive nurse will bend over in front of him. He clearly enjoys the sight, although nothing is visible beyond the definition of the woman’s behind through her trousers.

At one point in the film a character is taken hostage and in an effort to have them returned a threat is made to another character’s family. This character is shown to be very afraid due to the threat and the scene is played very seriously. Although there is never any evidence that the threat is likely to be made good, it is an intense dialogue scene that may upset children sensitive to threats to a family.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?
VERDICT: IS ‘RED’ FOR KIDS?

RED is much more accessible than other big action efforts by not doing any one thing to excess. There is minimal blood, virtually no sexual content, limited cursing and a fun sense of humour undercutting proceedings. Those looking for an entertaining night in should enjoy this uncomplicated but nevertheless unassuming movie and we would recommend that it is appropriate to children aged 10 and above depending on your attitude to the smattering of bad language that is present throughout. Although this movie isn’t aimed at children, nor is it particularly designed for teenagers, the light-hearted approach should mean that it does not exclude those ages either.

  • Violence:  3/5 (Although this is an action movie and people do get injured constantly, there is no focus on suffering and very little blood)
  • Emotional Distress: 2/5 (One character is very afraid for their family for a short but intense dialogue scene)
  • Fear Factor: 0/5
  • Sexual Content: 1/5
  • Bad Language: 3/5 (the language is mostly mild but is scattered throughout. A few moderate words are used and one strong swear word is used during the climactic scene. There are around 3 – 4 examples of blasphemous cursing)
  • Dialogue: 1/5 (again, the dialogue used to threaten one characters family is unexpectedly strong, albeit brief)
  • Other notes: Deals with themes of re-adjusting priorities, covering up the past, re-integrating into society, and being true to oneself.

Words by Mike Record

[amazon_link asins=’B00ET2NWS2,B00IKESSD4,B07B3M4B23,B00EE6C4N2,B072FS1FLS’ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’isthimovsui-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’f4207233-6ca9-11e8-9905-3166af651d63′]

0 replies

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *