Maybe it’s a sign of how long-in-the-tooth Bruce Willis is getting that he plays a retired CIA agent so well. Actually, it’s only the younger members of the cast who even begin to really let this film down. Here’s a group of actors we’ve known for years having fun while making an action flick. And it is fun. A little banal and run-of-the-mill, but still fun to watch.

RED (apparently CIA-terminology for Retired, Extremely Dangerous) is about a group of ex-CIA operatives who have been retired, yet are still classified as extremely dangerous. Clever, no? There is a plot behind this basic premise, something to do with a job they were all tangentially linked to decades ago, but it’s lost amidst one shoot-out after the next with bits of comedy in between.

And it’s all done well. The shoot-outs don’t feel particularly violent or life-threatening, but they’re still good fun to watch. The script itself is very sharp, giving each cast member more than enough to chew through without sounding like it had been written by an up and coming Hollywood writer.

Overall, RED was a fun watch. Nothing too special beyond it’s cast (but eclipsed by say The Expendables). If you’ve liked any of these actors previous movies you’ll enjoy RED.

My rating: 68%