So much for retirement – again.
Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich and Mary-Louise Parker return for more geriatric action-movie hijinks in “RED 2,” joining series newcomers Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Byung-hun Lee for a second dose of senior-on-senior violence. Now the film’s first trailer has arrived, and with it the revelation that Willis’ former CIA agent Frank Moses has once again been targeted for assassination – this time by his former ally Victoria (Mirren).
“MI6 has just given me a contract to kill you,” Victoria calmly tells Frank as she simultaneously pours acid on the body of a recently-deceased mark. “Apparently you’re No. 1 on Interpol’s most wanted.”
In other words: run, boy.
It’ll be interesting to see whether audiences turn out for the sequel to the 2010 sleeper, an adaptation of the Warren Ellis/Cully Hamner comic-book series that became a surprise hit with nearly $200 million in worldwide box-office. In all frankness, this first trailer is fairly one-note (the pattern here is, essentially, joke-shootout-joke-explosion-joke-car chase, etc.), and there’s something of a “been-there-done-that” quality to the whole affair that’s tough to shake. Then again, maybe that’s exactly what fans of the first movie are looking for.
My grade for the trailer: C. After watching it below, rate it for yourself at top left.
“RED 2” hits theaters on August 2.