Movie Review - RED 2

RED 2 is the sequel to, funnily enough, 2010s RED which was quite an entertaining movie about retired secret agents getting reluctantly dragged back into action and doing what they do best.  So is this a case of sequelitis or does RED 2 stand up as its own experience.

RED 2 sees Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) trying to settle down with girlfriend Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker) and most importantly keep her safe.  When one of his friends from the first movie, Marvin (John Malkovich) tries to warn him that trouble is coming Frank again has to fight for his life.

For those who don't know RED stands for "Retired, Extremely Dangerous", a term coined for the most deadly secret agents who have ever been, and when these agents are being played by the likes of Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren and Anthony Hopkins well it makes it hard for this to be that bad of a movie.  At the beginning it really feels like it's trying too hard to top the original and some of the early sequences do suffer a little, but after a short time it starts to find it's feet and heads into rather silly international intrigue.  A lot of what happens is pretty far fetched and the characters themselves get a little contradictory at times, like Han Cho Bai (Byung-hun Lee) originally being shown as a subtle and very intelligent character in his first seen yet ends up being one of the most casually violent characters in the movie.   But this movie is really about taking you on a rollercoaster ride.  Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren really add a lot of class to proceedings and the twists and turns are occasionally surprising.

It's also refreshing that Willis doesn't do any "I'm too old for this" gags anywhere in the entire movie.  It seems that worn out cliche is being left in the travesty of Die Hard 5, thank goodness.

RED 2 may raise concerns at the very start, but soon settles down into an enjoyable, and often funny, action romp.  The two leads don't add much but with a supporting casts full of fantastic actors taking up the slack it really ends up being better than the sum of it's parts.  Just don't think too much about it.

In a word - BOOM!

Warm Bodies - Movie Review

I finally caught up with Warm Bodies the other night and to be honest I approached it with minimal expectations.  I am happy to say I was pleasantly surprised.

Warm Bodies sees a zombie named R (Nicholas Hoult) in an airport full of zombies.  We are entertained by his internal monologue as he explains what it is like to be a zombie and his feelings and thoughts about those around him.  The other main protagonist, Julie (Teresa Palmer), who is the daughter to the militant Grigio (John Malkovich) who is the leader of walled off camp where the remaining human survivors live.

Julie sets off on a scavenging mission where a zombie attack kills most of the group and R kills Julie's boyfriend.  Here we learn that zombies eat brains because it gives them access to the memories and feelings of their victims.  Upon consuming this tasty treat R becomes obsessed with keeping Julie safe and their developing friendship has some pretty major consequences.

This is a movie of mixed qualities.  Much of the self referential inner dialogue with R at the start gives the movie a light hearted, whimsical feel which gives it a nice fresh feeling when compared to other zombie flicks.     Much of the early scenes are almost entirely focused on R and Julie, making it almost seem like a two character show, which both provides some of the film's more subtle moments and some of the least engaging.  However later in the piece when the "Bonies" (zombies that have wasted away so much that they appear skeletal) start making their presence felt we start heading into more traditional horror territory.  The swing between the light and fluffy and some particularly dark scenes can be a little jarring but overall the film flows quite well.  There are also a few scenes that really play with the concept, including one quite good gag if you think about another R & J couple popularised in more than a few movies.

Overall Warm Bodies is harmless, if a little unsteady, fun.  Some of the horror scenes would certainly put it in the mid to upper teen category though.  So if you are after a romantic comedy with a hell of a twist you should find quite a bit to enjoy with this one.

In a word - Raaaar