CHICAGO – Excelsior! Comic book legend Stan Lee’s famous exclamation puts a fine point on the third and final play of Mark Pracht’s FOUR COLOR TRILOGY, “The House of Ideas,” presented by and staged at City Lit Theater in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood. For tickets/details, click HOUSE OF IDEAS.
Film Review: Despite Flopping as a Comic Book Movie, ‘Red 2’ Coasts By with Well-Written Characters
- Adam Fendelman
- Anthony Hopkins
- Bruce Willis
- Byung-hun Lee
- Catherine Zeta-Jones
- Cully Hamner
- David Thewlis
- DC Entertainment
- Dean Parisot
- Erich Hoeber
- Garrick Hagon
- Helen Mirren
- HollywoodChicago.com Content
- John Malkovich
- Jon Hoeber
- Jong Kun Lee
- Mary-Louise Parker
- Movie Review
- Neal McDonough
- Red
- Red 2
- Warren Ellis
CHICAGO – If you didn’t see the DC Entertainment splash screen when this “Red 2” sequel kicks off with the fake death of one of its usual suspects, you wouldn’t mind that the rest of the film feels nothing like a comic book movie except for its animated transitions between scenes.
Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
No “comic book fan” would say this movie does the intensely cult-favorite genre any justice or holds up in even close to the same league as other DC films like “The Dark Knight,” “Watchmen” and various “Superman” attempts.
So despite this massive missed opportunity, abandoning that failure does allow you to find a silver lining in other redeeming qualities. In a film that packs in so many “A”-listers, this time it pays off. Each one brings a uniquely defined and mostly memorable addition to an overall story that’s somewhere in between great and too thin.
Read Adam Fendelman’s full review of “Red 2”. |
Bruce Willis (Frank) is an old fart who’s trying to be a retired CIA agent but can’t help himself from still kicking some good old bad guy ass. John Malkovich (Marvin) is his friend, partner in crime and an elite operative, too. He also can’t turn down being reunited for the shared goal of traveling the globe to track down a small nuclear device that packs a powerful punch.
The worst part of the film and an otherwise well-written character line-up is Catherine Zeta-Jones as Katja. She plays a Russian as inauthentically as George Bush would play a woman. While she could be easily cut out, Katja does serve one purpose: a flirt who tries to come between Bruce Willis and his main squeeze Mary-Louise Parker (Sarah). Now Sarah, on the other hand, steals the show.
Image credit: Frank Masi, SMPSP