Red (Special Edition)

Bruce Willis stars as Frank, a former black-ops CIA agent living a quiet life alone until a hit squad shows up to kill him, compromising his identity. Reassembling his old team - Joe (Morgan Freeman), Marvin (John Malkovich), and Victoria (Helen Mirren) - Frank sets out to prove they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.

You can take the agent out of the CIA, but you can't take the CIA out of the agent, as Frank Moses soon discovers to his chagrin. Simply wanting to live out his days peacefully on a government pension, Frank's serene existence is shattered when a troop of black-ops operatives descends on his house, blowing it to smithereens. Realizing he needs to reunite with some former colleagues, Frank brings together his old posse, which includes the kicky roles of Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, and a tea-pouring, hot-lead-spraying Helen Mirren.

The rest of the cast is equally impressive, with Mary-Louise Parker stealing much of the film as Frank's unsuspecting civilian date, swept into the action after potentially becoming a CIA target. Brian Cox hams it up as Frank's former Soviet adversary, wistfully recalling his desire to assassinate a US president, while Karl Urban (Star Trek) provides both brawn and brains as the current CIA agent tasked with bringing Frank down.

Directed by Flightplan's Robert Schwentke, the breezy tone of Red barely pauses to notice the semi-serious story point at the heart of the plot - a hazily recalled disaster in Guatemala many years earlier. Nor does it linger on the dead bodies piling up around the edges of the action, as Schwentke allows his skilled cast to simply act up. It may not be art, but as a multiplex diversion, Red scatters a decent share of legitimate jolts and rim-shot one-liners.

product information: