journal features

movie review - Red

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-eight years and a million words

Vancouver, 2012.06.02

This is a movie about a retired CIA spy who is classified "RED": Retired, Extremely Dangerous. He's lonely and doesn't know what to do with himself. He keeps spoiling his pension checks so he can talk to one of the agents on the help line. Our retiree is tracked down by someone from his past, and he winds up involving the help line agent as well. Scrambling to put together a team to respond to the threat, the retiree has to contend with an irritated CIA as well as the unknown assailants. There is an absolutely stellar supporting cast - Helen Mirren's assassin character alone is worth the price of admission. With lots of charisma and some old stories to resolve, the crew walks a line between drama and comic-book violence, this thing has more than its share of moments and actually hangs together fairly well.

Recommended.

Do not watch the post-credits scene, it takes away a lot from the tone of the movie. It's like reading the liner notes in a favorite old album and discovering that one of your favorite songs is about someone getting high in a scrap yard. Booo!

rand()m quote

Naturally the common people don't want war: Neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.

—Hermann Goering