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Film Review: Red (3 stars)

There is one major flaw in Red: its title. Sure, the movie is based on a DC comic series of the same name, but it’s not a very well-known comic; plus, IMDb lists no fewer than 23 films called Red and, frankly, along with its Die Hard-inspired poster, the message conveyed to potential viewers is that it’s yet another generic thriller starring Bruce Willis.

This is what the filmmakers should have called it: Love’s Savage Secret. For real.

It’s the title of a romance novel Sarah (Mary Louise Parker) is reading in between -- and often while -- fielding calls from disgruntled pensioners in a fluorescent-lit office cubicle. One morning, she gets a call from Frank Moses (Willis), a retired CIA agent. Friendly conversation turns to flirting and they make tentative plans for a first date. Little does Sarah know she is about to get kidnapped, drugged, held hostage, threatened at gunpoint and, somewhere in there, fall in love with this guy.

Halfway through the film, in between car chases, she says: “This is just like Love’s Savage Secret!” Indeed it is, and in the same way she adores this book for its unabashed cheesiness, audiences will come to love Red for its indulgence in action-movie kitsch and absurd one-liners.

It’s also a fantastic showcase for A-list actors Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman and John Malkovich to indulge in their inner fools -- we get Mirren running around in a glamorous white evening gown with black combat boots; Freeman attempting to disguise himself as an African general but coming off more like the flamboyant leader of a marching band; and Malkovich making his best entrance in a film to date, literally catapulting himself into the frame.

After the man’s disgracefully earnest performance as a horse trainer in last week’s Secretariat, which saw him utterly butchering a French-Canadian accent, it’s a pleasure to see him back in fine comic form, portraying an ultra-paranoid spy who views everything through binoculars and doesn’t leave home without an uzi, stuffed in a toy pig (this culminates in Malkovich hollering, “Open the pig!” at a key moment, to much hilarity).

Meanwhile, local movie-goers will derive much satisfaction in seeing Toronto perform the roles of three American cities (mostly Chicago); the Toronto Reference Library, Union Station and City Hall form backdrops for many of the scenes. In fact, the film actually comes within a split-second of revealing the CN Tower in a quick pan of the skyline.

But it cuts to another viewpoint, just in time. And it’s this sense of timing -- both in setting the pace and delivering punchlines -- that makes Red stand out. Director Robert Schwentke has clearly shaken off the overly saccharine pathos and awkward narrative constraints of his previous work, The Time Traveler’s Wife, in order to have a bit of fun. It’s just too bad he took his tongue out of his cheek when coming up with the title.

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