BOTTOM LINE: Lots of fun, with well placed and very cool action sequences, “Red” is a highly entertaining film despite a certain slowness in pace in parts; but the antics of a stellar cast with great chemistry more than makes up for that.

THE GOOD: “Red” is just good old-fashioned fun, wrapped up in a witty action film. So many things are right with this film, starting with a stellar cast who bounce off each other with great chemistry, to some very cool action sequences, to a plot that is engaging from start to finish. Even Ernest Borgnine pops up in a fun, but crucial role! Red stands for Retired and Extremely Dangerous, referring to a group of ex-CIA agents who have been retired after they became too old for active duty. Bruce Willis plays Frank Moses, a lethal killing machine who is trying to start a new life and looks to be doing well when he gets a date with call centre operator Sarah (Mary Louise Parker). However, a team of assassins descends on Frank’s home one night with kill orders, but he kills them instead, races off to protect Sarah, and then rounds up his old CIA companions in a bid to find out who and why they are being targeted for termination. Bruce Willis is the straight man, and plays it to perfection with a weary worldliness. John Malkovich is hysterical as the ultra-paranoid sharp tongued assassin Marvin Boggs who wants payback. Morgan Freeman lends his elegant presence as per usual in a more fun performance, while Helen Mirren is something of a revelation in her assassin role, particularly when you see her operating a massive gatling gun, amongst other things. Karl Urban is also great as the CIA goon William Cooper hired to take them down, but realises that more is going on than meets the eye. What makes “Red” work so well is the chemistry amongst the cast, and the narrative which makes you cheer each time the bad guys fail to take these ex-assassins out. One sequence where Frank comes under attack by Cooper and performs a brilliantly staged counter-attack where you can see he means business is brilliantly filmed, edited and coregraphed, as is another sequence involving Boggs when he gets back at an assassin who slipped his grasp in an earlier scene. Richard Dreyfuss and Julian McMahon round out the great cast by putting in spot on performances of their own. “Red” is a lot of fun to watch and you will not be disappointed.

THE BAD: This film bucks a trend in recent action films in that it does not indulge in rapid fire editing and fast paced shots, allowing for well staged wide shots and mid-shots where you clearly can see what is happening; which is a plus, but the film does have a certain slowness inherent within its pacing structure, despite being under two hours. In this respect, the film loses some steam and energy despite the great efforts of the cast generating copious amounts of chemistry and fun. If more attention had been paid to this pacing issue, Red would have been a great film rather than one that does not quite make itself memorable.