Trailer Tuesday: RED

It's sometimes easy to forget that comic books aren't just about superheroes. Take Red for example. Red is a little known 2003 and 2004 mini-series that fell under the DC Comics umbrella. Created by acclaimed writer Warren Ellis and artist Cully Hamner, Red centres on a retired CIA agent who finds himself targeted for assassination by his superiors, and re-enters the "game" to both defend himself and seek revenge.

In Hollywood's craze for all things comic book, Red was snapped up to be turned into a movie. And having now watched the taunt 1 minute trailer above, as well as the longer, decidedly more action-packed feature trailer here, I have to say that RED looks surprisingly awesome.


Apparently far less violent but much more humorous and idiosyncratic than its printed source material, the film RED, which stands for "Retired Extremely Dangerous," expands on the comic's slender premise to make the film a team-centred espionage action comedy.

RED's official plot synopsis is as follows:

Frank (Bruce Willis), Joe (Morgan Freeman), Marvin (John Malkovich) and Victoria (Helen Mirren) used to be the CIA’s top agents – but the secrets they know just made them the Agency’s top targets. Now framed for assassination, they must use all of their collective cunning, experience and teamwork to stay one step ahead of their deadly pursuers and stay alive. To stop the operation, the team embarks on an impossible, cross-country mission to break into the top-secret CIA headquarters, where they will uncover one of the biggest conspiracies and cover-ups in government history.

Apart from some nifty comic-style action scenes (love that spinning car sequence with Willis!), the big drawcard of RED is definitely its unexpected pedigree casting. Not only do you have Mirren and Malkovich looking especially appealing as they play against type, but in a nostalgia-driven age, where movie audiences love to rally behind their favourite franchises and stars of the past few decades, it's a smart, intriguing move to make an action movie - and an action movie based on a comic no less - where the main characters are all "big name" actors over 55.

For the record, RED also stars Mary-Louise Parker, Richard Dreyfuss, Ernest Borgnine and Brian Cox. Julian McMahon and Karl Urban meanwhile represent fresh-faced "Young" Hollywood, playing the American Vice-President and ambitious CIA agent, respectively.


Given the popularity of Gran Torino and The Expendables, which both feature grizzled older stars kicking ass, there will definitely be a market for a film like RED - where many of the film's laughs clearly stem from the battle between "old men" and younger, fitter CIA agents. It's a case of experience and style vs. energy and strength. And I firmly believe it's RED's tongue-in-cheek preoccupation with age, and accompanying sense of humour, that will help the film stand out from dozens of other cinematic spy vs. spy tales.

I'll leave Red comic writer Warren Ellis with the last word on the film adaptation: "Who wouldn't want to see Helen Mirren with a sniper rifle?"

Hell, I'm there for that reason alone!

RED opens in North America on 15 October. The film releases in South Africa a month later, on 19 November.