RED (Retired, Extremely Dangerous)

What's that I hear you cry? The Loser's, The Expendables and The A-Team weren't enough to satisfy your ensemble cast actioner cravings? well fear no more as Robert Schwentke brings you his DC comic adaptation starring what could be called a "Dream Cast" consisting of Bruce WIllis, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, Brian Cox, John Malkovich and Karl Urban.

The film primarily follows retired black ops agent Frank Moses (Willis) and how he slowly unravels the who what and where about the people trying to kill him, along the way picking up fellow retiriees also targeted, leading to an ok but not too original conclusion. I'd go into more detail but, that's kind of it in a nutshell, love interest and occupational gag's are thrown in as if manditory, think Bourne Supremacy meets Mr. and Mr. Smith.

So, is this "little late for the summer" blockbuster flick fit to take on the big boys? well to be honest Sly Stallone stole the thunder this year as the stupidly overhyped (but generally ok) movie The Expendables already tackled the ultra bad-ass "but getting on a bit" super agents taking down a corrupt power, the main difference i can see is that this one tries a bit harder to make you laugh, the problem with THAT is, it's left mainly to Mr Malkovich who, though doing a good job, ultimately isnt enough to land a belly laugh.

So the film gets caught somewhere between action/comedy and conspiracy "clear my name" blah blah blah, Mirren and Cox both enchant and engage while the rest just seemingly running the motions, not to mention the criminal underuse of Morgan Freeman (a man so awesome, only God could play him in a movie) overall it'll tide you over and give you a chuckle, but very soon forgotten. 6/10