RED 2 | Eastern North Carolina Now

    What began as serving the motivation to stay alive, soon became an effort to save a huge chunk of the English world. It was at this point we meet the rest of those trying to kill Frank and Marvin and Sarah, or help them survive.

Marvin (left), John Malkovich, deadpans the obvious, while refereeing, through commentary, Sarah's (right), Mary-Louise Parker, relationship with Frank Moses: Above. Russian Agent Katja, Catherine Zeta-Jones, somehow, finds herself in service to her old pal Frank Moses: Below.     Click above image to expand and return to the gallery.

    Marvin: "She has talents you and I will never have. Frank: What talents?"

    Marvin: "People like her (Sarah)."

    Han Cho Bai: "If she lives, this'll be good for your relationship. You're right."

    Marvin: "And if there's one thing I know, it's women and covert ops."

    Frank: "That's two things."

    Han Cho Bai: "No, grasshopper. It is not."



Frank Moses (left), Bruce Willis, Marvin Boggs (center), John Malkovich, and Dr. Edward Bailey (right), Anthony Hopkins find themselves on Russian soil: Above. Frank (left), Bruce Willis, Sarah (center), Mary-Louise Parker, Marvin (right), John Malkovich, are out for a ride in the English country when they inadvertently run into Victoria Winslow, Helen Mirren: Below.     Click images to expand.

    What makes RED 2 work so well, in this dark comedy of a film, is the casting of some fine ensemble actors, and an irreverence toward societal norms ... no matter how Marvin, the John Malkovich character, struggles to mainstream their existence as normal. The comedy for the rest of us is recognizing the obvious - nothing, and nobody, in RED 2 is normal.


    RED 2 became even less normal when the trio, bent on inner discovery of such emotional depth, while killing others, and remaining alive, found Dr. Edward Bailey, played by incomparable Anthony Hopkins, as the prototypical mad scientist. The largest problem for everyone else, in relationship to this mad scientist, was that Edward Bailey was a nuclear physicist.

The heir apparent equal to the murderous intents of the infamous trio was Victoria Winslow, played by the mercurial Helen Mirren: Above and Below.     Click images to expand.


    When British MI6 agent Victoria Winslow, Helen Mirren, was brought into the fray, that was when the body count really started to rise, as evidenced by the dialogue below:

    Sarah: "Where did you get the bodies?"

    Victoria: [Deadpan] "From my freezer."

MI6 Agent Victoria Winslow, Helen Mirren, was inordinately resourceful in managing the murder of her adversaries: Above and below.     Click above image to expand and return to the gallery.


    RED 2, as a farcical look at: relationships, intrigue, and remaining vertical while conscious, is a first rate black comedy of the darkest variety.

    Do I recommend for a date night DVD?

    Absolutely ... especially if you care about relationships.

    Rated PG-13, Released on DVD November 23, 2013, 116 minutes of run time.



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