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movie review - Red

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

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!