RED (2010)
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A retired black-ops agent must reunite with his old team to stop an assassin who has vowed to kill him.
The story
Frank Moses, a retired CIA black-ops agent, lives a quiet life in the suburbs until an assassination squad attacks his home. After successfully defending himself, Frank realizes his phone conversations with his love interest, Sarah Ross, have been monitored. Fearing for her safety, he travels to Missouri to rescue her. Meanwhile, CIA agent William Cooper is tasked by his supervisor to track down and eliminate Frank. The two paths collide as Frank and Sarah find themselves hunted by both the original assassins and the government agents tasked with neutralizing the 'Retired, Extremely Dangerous' operative.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
After an assassination squad attacks his home, Frank Moses, a retired CIA agent, kidnaps his love interest, Sarah Ross, to protect her. He seeks help from his former mentor, Joe Matheson, and other retired agents like Marvin Boggs and Victoria Winslow. They discover a list of names involved in a 1981 cover-up in Guatemala. As they track down the remaining targets, they are pursued by CIA agent William Cooper. The group eventually infiltrates the CIA to find the truth. They discover that the Vice President, Robert Stanton, ordered the original killings. In a final confrontation, they trade Stanton for Sarah. It is revealed that the conspirators behind the cover-up are the ones who orchestrated the current hunt. The film ends with Frank and Marvin fleeing with a stolen nuclear device while Sarah joins him on a new mission.
- First release year
- 2010
- Runtime (minutes)
- 111
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Robert Schwentke
- Writers
- Jon Hoeber · screenplay; Erich Hoeber · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Bruce Willis · Frank Moses; Morgan Freeman · Joe Matheson; John Malkovich · Marvin Boggs; Helen Mirren · Victoria "Vicky" Winslow; Karl Urban · William Cooper; Mary-Louise Parker · Sarah Ross; Brian Cox · Ivan Simanov; Richard Dreyfuss · Alexander Dunning
- Genres
- action; comedy
- Themes
- Retirement; Conspiracy; Loyalty
- Tone and mood
- Action; Comedy
- Setting
- Various locations including Missouri, New Orleans, New York, Florida, Virginia, and Moldova.
- Premise and plot tags
- Spy; Action; Comedy
- Source material / true-story basis
- comic book series by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner
- Franchise connections
- Red
- Reception
- The film received generally positive reviews from critics and was noted for its wit and style despite being less of a 'thrill ride' than some expected.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 72% · scale: percentage · review count: 213; Metacritic · score: 60 · scale: 100 · review count: 38
- Awards and nominations
- Golden Globe Awards · Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy · Nomination
- Production trivia
- The film was the first from DC not produced by Warner Bros. after the purchase.; The film was shot in and around the Toronto metropolitan area for nine weeks.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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