John McClane travels to Russia to help out his seemingly wayward son, Jack, only to discover that Jack is a CIA operative working undercover, causing the father and son to team up against underworld forces.
Director: John Moore Writers: Skip Woods, Roderick Thorp (certain original characters by) Stars: Bruce Willis, Jai Courtney, Sebastian Koch
Storyline
Iconoclastic, take-no-prisoners cop John McClane, for the first time, finds himself on foreign soil after traveling to Moscow to help his wayward son Jack - unaware that Jack is really a highly-trained CIA operative out to stop a nuclear weapons heist. With the Russian underworld in pursuit, and battling a countdown to war, the two McClanes discover that their opposing methods make them unstoppable heroes. Written by Guy from Estonia
A Good Day to Die Hard Movie Reviews
As a fan of the Die Hard series I feel the need to warn others - Don't waste 97 minutes of your life on this movie! Yes, it really is that bad.
Here's a concise summary of why it's just so bad:
1) John McClane's role is really as a side-kick. Why do this to the big man .... why?
2) The movie lacks a bad guy. Does the movie have people that are bad - of course, but it lacks that McClane v Super-villain factor.
3) There's very little of the Die Hard humour we've all grown to love.
4) The movie parodies the Hans Gruber death sequence - never - never do this.
5) Jai Courtney is terrible. It's hard to discern if it's the role he's been asked to play or him, but either way he come across as a spoiled brat pretending to be Jason Bourne.
6) There's hardly any script - it's as if the script were sandwiched in post production to fit around the bangs and crashes.
7) It's not in the USA. This sounds trivial but it's not - the film just doesn't work outside of its tried and tested environment.
8) The car chase scene - oh my. If you do choose to watch the movie after reading this the good news is that yes, it does eventually end - although it may not feel this way.
So in summary, go plant a tree, play football, go for a walk, in fact - do anything but for the love of all that you hold dear - don't waste your life on this
RED 2 (2013)
Retired C.I.A. agent Frank Moses reunites his unlikely team of elite operatives for a global quest to track down a missing portable nuclear device.
Director: Dean Parisot Writers: Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber Stars: Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich
Storyline
Retired CIA agent Frank Moses is in love with Sarah Ross and enjoying their normal life. Out of the blue, Marvin Boggs meets Frank in the supermarket and tells that Wikileaks has released the information that they had participated and know the whereabouts of the Nightshade, a portable nuclear weapon that was smuggled in pieces and hidden in Russia. Now the top agents in the world are under contract to seek them out to discover where Nightshade is. The trio travels to Paris and teams-up with the Russian Katja to track down the former Russian Agent 'The Frog' to get more information about the operation. They learn that the brilliant inventor Dr. Edward Bailey might know where the weapon is. They discover that Bailey has been interned in an asylum in London by the MI-6 for thirty-two years and the British Victoria joins the team. They rescue Bailey and find that the nuclear device is hidden in the Kremlin. Soon the dangerous South Korean Han joins the group expecting to retrieve the ... Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
RED 2 Movie Review
Retired C.I.A. agent Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) and his retired but extremely dangerous operatives are back to face danger again. There's a nuclear threat to be snuffed out but things really could go either way...
It's pretty much more of the same really, which apparently hasn't been enough for some critics who wanted a different movie. It's not as if this is lazy, yes it's still Frank and his aged assassins fighting old age as well as an outside threat, but there's a flip-flop in plotting and the additions of Anthony Hopkins, Byung-hun Lee and Catherine Zeta-Jones are most welcome. It's also so nice to see the adorable Mary-Louise Parker get a substantial part this go around, while Helen Mirren (still sexy and gorgeous in her late 60s) is delightfully sociopathic!
Red 2 is full to the brim with acting talent who are in on the fun joke of it all. Action is never in short supply and the pace is never allowed to sag by director Dean Parisot. The characters remain strong thanks to the screenplay (Jon and Erich Hoeber) and the airy humour is consistent and keeps the violence grounded. Basically, this is a hugely enjoyable ball of action based froth. 7/10
RED (2010)
When his peaceful life is threatened by a high-tech assassin, former black-ops agent Frank Moses reassembles his old team in a last ditch effort to survive and uncover his assailants.
Director: Robert Schwentke Writers: Jon Hoeber (screenplay), Erich Hoeber(screenplay), Stars: Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman
Storyline
Frank (Bruce Willis) is retired, bored and lonely living off his government pension in a nondescript suburb in an equally nondescript house. The only joy in Frank's life are his calls to the government pension processing center when he gets to talk to his case worker Sarah (Mary-Louis Parker). Sarah is as bored and lonely as Frank and marks her conversations with the unknown Frank and her spy novels as the only things fun in her life. When something in Frank's past forces Frank back into his old line of work and puts an unwitting Sarah in the middle of the intrigue, Frank and Sarah begin a journey into Frank's past and the people he used to work with. Like Frank they are all RED ... Retired Extremely Dangerous.
RED Movie Review
When I first saw the trailer for The Expendables, I was already thinking of the interesting and funny relationship between the characters played by those action icons. After a zillion trailers and a movie, I was sourly disappointed. Now, I don't know who's fault it is, but relative to The Expandables, I almost haven't heard of Red before its release. However, it was exactly what I was looking for.
You have a great team of actors. They are not even action heroes, maybe that did it, but they do a great job. just look at that cast: Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, Brian Cox, Hellen Mirren, Richard Dreyfuss, even Ernest Borgnine! As the young(er) crew, Karl Urban and Mary-Louise Parker are in it and they both play well. But more than that, each character actually has a role. They don't just come in, say a few inconsequential things, then die or are completely forgotten *cough* James Remar *cough*.
So it had the ridiculously packed action and at times it looked and sounded like Ocean's Eleven, who cares? The rest was great! Even the fight scenes... not even the bad guys go out in full view firing wildly then getting shot. People actually took cover, helped each other and synchronized their moves. The lines were funny and somewhat complex and all the people on the set were clearly having fun doing what they loved.
Bottom line: I don't know, maybe because the director is unseasoned in the ways of Hollywood the movie turned out to be so good. Or maybe it was the cast. Or maybe it was the fun of it. The movie turned out great, with a few screw-ups that I am ready to ignore. The mash-up is Jason Bourne meets The Expendables via, luckily for us, just a pinch of Ocean's Eleven.
