Red 2

I think to be fair, it you enjoyed Red (2010) then I would expect you to also enjoy its sequel Red 2 (2013) but if you didn’t read no further!

If like me you’re a bit of a sucker for a noisy violent comic book adaptation then you’re probably still reading this blog.  Of course there no need to tell you that its an American action comedy film or that it was inspired by a limited comic book series of the same name written by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner. This time the German director Robert Schwentke is not at the helm but the American Dean Parisot who I am told was responsible for episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm. The cast is certainly as appealing even if we have lost the services of Morgan Freeman.

 

Helen Mirren don's the washing up gloves. 

Bruce Willis returns as Frank Moses who has fallen head over heals in love with Mary-Louise Parker’s character Sarah Ross (who can blame the old bugger) who now joins him on his gun-totting bullet flying adventures. Also part of the team are the LCD addled Marvin Boggs, you remember Marvin he’s the secret agent with the dodgy dress sense, and M16 assassin Victoria Winters who if not regularly piling up bodies gets withdrawal symptoms, Victoria is again played by the wonderful Helen Mirren. Added to the cast this time is Catherine Zeta-Jones as a very fetching Russian secret agent who has a crush on Frank. Also tied to our narrative in one way or another are Brian Cox head of the Russian secret service, David Thewis as The Frog who seems to collect very expensive bottles of wine and keys to red mercury bomb cupboards, Anthony Hopkins plays Edward Bailey a mad inventor of weapons of mass destruction and up to his neck in Project Nightshade? We daren’t leave out CIA man Jack Norton (Neal McDonough) for no other reason than he appears to kill every one he comes into contact with!

 

Catherine Zeta-Jones chills out on the sofa.

The story’s not that important and I won’t bore you with it at this stage but suffice to say it involves lots of shooting and blowing things up. My best advice is to suspend your disbelief, stick the old fleshy organ inside the mouth well and truly in your cheek, sit back and enjoy this humorous action packed adventure movie.

Mary-Louise Parkers's been up west.