RED

Just saw RED with my son -- an action movie starring a bunch of old pros playing old retired secret agents. 


Lightweight, waaay silly, but it was everything that the Stallone movie The Expendables was not -- witty, clever, well-acted, and I had a fine ole time. Great action sequences, and watching Willis and Freeman and Malkovich and Mirren breeze through this was a treat.


Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 70%, but I'm guessing that viewers my age rated it a lot higher. 


Worth seeing for the actors' facial expressions alone. There's one shot of Helen Mirren with her back to a locked gate that was a testament to great acting chops -- an expression that lasted maybe three-quarters of a second. I went "Whoa!" when I saw that. Wonderful stuff. 


Speaking as a guy who wrote a novel about a couple of retired ops dragged back into the biz, I was entertained. There was even a line so close to one I used in my book I would have thought they swiped it if the movie hadn't been mostly shot before my novel was published.


"You made a mistake, Grandpa."


Followed by a room-destroying fight, in the middle of which was this:


 "Was so-and-so your teacher?" 


"Yeah." 


"I was his teacher ..."


You old guys will love it. Some of you younger folk might like it, too.