Red 2

"Edward Bailey was a genius physicist who built some of the greatest stuff during the Cold War. Neutron bombs, particle beam weapons, nerve gas. Excellent nerve gas. He was a rock star of conceptual mass killing. They called him the Da Vinci of Death." - Marvin

release year: 2013
genre: action/comedy
viewing setting: home Bluray 2/10/23 and 1/31/16 and 2/25/15 and 3/20/14 and 11/30/13

synopsis: The retired extremely dangerous super-agents (along with a few new ones) get back together to stop a superweapon that's been hidden and dormant since the Cold War.

impressions: This was just as entertaining as the first one, and a worthy sequel/continuation. The main guy is just minding his own business with his girlfriend, and people come to him looking for trouble. I liked the concept of a secret/hidden/forgotten-about weapon, and there were new characters as well as plot twists in the form of double-crosses. And of course plenty of action of all kinds.

acting: Bruce Willis is good as the main agent, Frank, and he's still got it. John Malkovich is his half-insane friend. Helen Mirren is their British friend, who's as deadly as ever. Mary Louise-Parker is Frank's girlfriend, who insists on being involved and therefore finds herself in harm's way even though she's not a killer. Brian Cox is the Russian agent who helps them all out. Anthony Hopkins is new character #1, a brilliant weapons-maker who's been locked away for more than three decades and has an agenda of his own. Catherine Zeta-Jones is a Russian general and spy who used to have a thing for Frank, and so creates a love triangle just by being there. Neal McDonough is a younger American agent and ruthless bad guy. Byung-hun Lee is an extremely competent Korean assassin who's the best in the world and gets hired to go after the good guys.

final word: Ultraviolent comedy/action hybrid.

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