Red 2 for Consumers

The sequel to the action-comedy hit RED reunites our team of retired CIA operatives as they utilize their old-school style to confront a new set of adversaries across Europe. RED 2 is a very safe sequel bet, boasting a cast of friendly, recognizable, and bankable stars. It's a breezy romp of global espionage and superhero superspies, where the abundance of violence is played for laughs, and sly grins remain firmly planted on the faces of all involved.

As fans of 2010's RED will fondly recall, the hero characters hail from the AARP generation, which also drives the primary conceptual joke and defines the title acronym: Retired, Extremely Dangerous. In the second installment, former secret agent Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) is drawn out of retirement (once again) by his former cohort Marvin (John Malkovich, acting Malkovich-crazy and loving it) to address a plot involving a Cold War-era nuclear bomb hidden in Russia and the international effort to retrieve it. Frank is now romantically paired with RED's sweet Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker, also a comic delight), who wants to join him in the fray and proves to be quite adept at the dangerous game of espionage.

Also returning from their not-so-retired lives are the icy MI-6 assassin Victoria (Helen Mirren) and the lusty Russian spy chief Ivan (Brian Cox). Their priceless scene together captures a bucolic picnic where automatic weapons and silk stockings are the main course. New to this edition is Katja (Catherine Zeta-Jones), Ivan's best operative and a former flame of Frank, as well as Han Cho Bai (Byung-hun Lee), a Korean hit man on Frank's list, partly because he's been ordered to kill him, but mostly because he's mad that Frank stole his private jet.

Despite their muddled motives, the characters put aside personal grudges and professional kill orders to join forces against the doomsday device, created and hidden by a batty professor who's been locked away in a London psychiatric hospital for almost 40 years. Fortunately, this caricature is played by Anthony Hopkins, who brings all the acting tics and crazy-old-British-guy mannerisms he can as both hero and villain.

The mechanics of the story don't much matter when the purpose is zingy one-liners and impeccable comic timing. There's a ton of bloodless violence, most of which is also played for laughs, and a menacing American agent played by Neal McDonough who seems to be the only humorless one in the whole bunch. He's also the only truly scary one, which does not bode well for his character.

The physical and verbal interplay among the leads cascades trippingly off the tongue in snappy dialogue and bits of business that seem effortless for these seasoned professionals. Helen Mirren wears diamonds and fur while wielding a grenade launcher; John Malkovich makes the most lovable psychopath ever; Anthony Hopkins is both befuddled and conniving; and Bruce Willis makes violent screwball comedy look easy, especially with the impeccable help of Mary-Louise Parker.

The RED franchise is a nice crossover success for Hollywood, with a built-in audience of the over-50 set and the core youth demographic happy to watch grandma- and grandpa-types blow up and shoot things to their hearts' content.

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