John Malkovich | pinartarhan.com

Afterwards starring Romain Duris, John Malkovich & Evangeline Lilly. From 2008. Image via covershut.com

French Nathan (Romain Duris) is working at a very prestigious position at an American law firm in New York. He’s a little disconnected with his young daughter Tracey, who lives with her mother/his ex-wife Claire (Evangeline Lilly). Despite his detachment from his family, his shaking hand (in the mornings) and lonely existence, he thinks he is doing just fine…until Dr. Kay (John Malkovich) walks into his life. Kay is very enigmatic. He seems to know an awful lot about Nathan, but doesn’t explain how. He claims that he is there to help Nathan. Nathan is impatient to get rid of Kay, until he realizes that Kay is able to predict that a person will die. He doesn’t want to believe in Kay’s ability, but he eventually finds himself following some of Kay’s tips to tie up some of the loose ends in his life.

Kay is a messenger – a person who can see which person will die soon and who does everything he can so that the soon-to-be-dead can find peace his life. Nathan realizes that he might be the next one to die, so he tries his hand at reconnecting with his family…

Now, before I write about how I feel about the movie, I have to say the person who ever put the “thriller” label on this film, needs to be kicked wherever it will hurt the most. It is pure drama. It is weirdly engaging despite its slow pace. But thrilling? Never.

Ignore the word thriller, and definitely ignore the poster with Malkovich holding a gun. It is a touching story with some intriguing moments attached. It is just a mysterious drama about life, death, love and the afterlife. So if anyone is looking for a thrill, or a scary moment, this film won’t provide it.

Now, I enjoyed the experience of the film, despite the religious undertones and the deliberately slow story-telling. It has good acting and some stuff that has you guessing. No, you won’t be shocked at the end. I don’t know if you will like it, but I just don’t think it will surprise you all that much.

Whether or not you should see this film is beyond me, though… It really depends on your mood and whether you like movies with very clear messages. But it has nice cinematography; there’s Malkovich and well, it was nice seeing Lilly not be Lost’s Kate.

In English, with the occasional Frenck dialogue. 5.8 on IMDB. I’d give it a 6.5 or a 7.

Red starring Bruce Willis, Mary-Loise Parker, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren & Karl Urban. Image via c-medya.com

Retired CIA agent Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) is living the quiet, suburban life. The highlight of his days is when he talks on the phone with Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker) – his representative for the pension fund: Even though they never met, they both have a crush on each other.

While Frank makes plans to meet in person, a team of assassins try to kill Frank. Frank escapes but now that he is a target. So he has to kidnap Sarah, who is unwilling to believe that Frank is in fact ex CIA. But she eventually believes him. Frank realizes that the hit has been ordered by CIA itself. And it is not just Frank. A past Guatemala operation has gotten lots of agents and a news reporter killed. So Frank pulls up a team he can trust – although he has to let each member know that he is not trying to kill them first.

His team includes ex-CIA Joe (Morgan Freeman), nutty but smart Marvin (John Malkovich), ex MI6 Victoria (Helen Mirren) and Russian Ivan (Brian Cox). At first the CIA was confident that their agent in charge, the highly capable William Cooper (Karl Urban) could take care of a “grandpa” agent but as it will turn out, this team of old agents and a civilian can really kick ass and raise mayhem. Catching Frank will be a lot harder than anticipated…

2011’s Golden Globe nominee for Best Picture (Comedy or Musical), Red is a pretty entertaining action/comedy that deliberately starts slow and follows with fast action and good comedy. The cast is incredible, the characters are hilarious. It is one of the most entertaining movies of Bruce Willis, who has been kicking ass in action films for over 2 decades now. And kudos to Helen Mirren, whose character totally destroys all the stereotypical movie roles a 65-year-old actress can get.

It’s unreasonable. It’s illogical. And the ending is predictable. But it is bloody good entertainment. It is hard to pick a favorite character but for me it is a tie between deadly Victoria and the paranoid Marvin who gets upset when he doesn’t kill anyone.

Written by Jon and Erich Hoeber. Directed by Robert Schwentke (Flightplan, The Time Traveler’s Wife). Based on the graphic novel created by Cully Hamner and Warren Ellis.

7 Fun Red Facts:

– Nip Tuck’s Julian McMahon makes a guest appearance as the Vice President.

– The cast also features Richard Dreyfuss.

– The “Russian” Ivan is played by Brian Cox, who is actually Scottish.

– Sex and the City’s Richard James Remar makes a guest appearance.

– Between the cast, there are three Oscars in acting: Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman and Richard Dreyfuss are Oscar-winning actors.

– Weeds star Mary- Louise Parker used to date Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who also appeared in Weeds.

Favorite lines:

Sarah is not happy to be kidnapped.

Frank: I was just hoping you’d be a little more understanding of the situation.
Sarah: I was hoping not to get kidnapped. Or drugged. I was hoping you’d have *hair*. So it looks like none of our dreams are coming true at the moment.

Frank (Willis) and Cooper (Karl Urban) are engaged in a deadly fight. Cooper first thinks he can beat Frank easily because of the age difference but Frank beats the crap out of Cooper.

Frank (locking Cooper in a wrestling position):Krodesky trained you?

Cooper: Yeah.

Frank: I trained Krodesky.

Marvin wants to kill the agent who is trying to kill them and has called Marvin an old man.. Frank had previously made him let her go, thinking she was an innocent civilian.

Marvin: Can I kill her now? (Frank nods and Marvin kills her) Old man, my ass!

Favorite scenes (minor spoilers):

– Pretty much all the action scenes, especially the kidnapping of the V.P.

– The very last scene.

Also on Bruce Willis

Surrogates starring Bruce Willis & Rosamund Pike

Top 5 Movie Endings feat. The Sixth Sense

Actor Musicians and Musician Actors feat. Willis and Travolta

What Ricky Gervais said on 2011 Golden Globes about Bruce

10 Celebrity Break-ups You Didn’t See Coming

Also on Morgan Freeman

Thick as Thieves starring Antonio Banderas & Morgan Freeman