Category: Comics

When the movie RED was a surprise hit for Lionsgate in 2010, it surprised no one that they made a sequel RED 2 in 2013, but sadly it lacks all the fun and charm of the original.  Movies like this are why sequels get a bad rap.  It has no new ideas, and it seems like everyone is in it just to get paid.

The plot starts a little while after the first movie and Sarah Ross (Mary-Louise Parker) is getting bored now that her boyfriend Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) is no longer taking her on dangerous missions.  Luckily for her their old friend Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich) shows up and gets them all wrapped up in another adventure.  Which much like the first movie is them running from the CIA who wants to kill them, again, for some reason.  While on the run they will meet old friends, and have to team up with some new ones.

RED 2 is pretty much a worse version of the first one.  In RED it was fun watching old agents kicking butt and making people pay for coming after them, but to watch the same thing over again is pretty lame.  If you don’t have a new idea for a sequel you shouldn’t make it.  It is a shame too since RED has a good cast, and there is all sorts of spy stuff they could have done.  The only thing they did better in this movie are some nifty hand to hand fight scenes.

Speaking of the cast, none of them really bring any life in to their roles this time around.  They all know this is a cash grab, so they just put on their smug spy faces and get the movie done.  The only one that seems to be having any fun is Anthony Hopkins as a crazy doctor who makes weapons of mass destruction, but this is his first time around with RED, so maybe it was all still new and fresh for him.

The worst part of this movie is how forgettable it is.  I watched this movie weeks ago, but the reason I am reviewing it now is because I had forgot I watched it.  That is not a good thing for a movie.  Since they didn’t have a good script for this movie they should have just skipped it.  With this cast, had they tried a little harder they may have had a viable franchise on their hands, but it is to late for that now.  I am pretty sure this movie killed any chance for a RED 3, and after the snoozefest that was RED 2 nobody is sad about that.

 

It has been awhile since I have posted because Mrs. Shmee gave birth to a little Shmee, but it feels good to start typing something up again.  I thought since I have been away so long I would do a little comic book movie round up of things I have found interesting while in a sleep deprived stupor!

X-Men: Days of Future Past is a Hit! (Now Fox is in a Pickle):

Fox was hoping that Days of Future Past was going to revive their X-Men franchise, and they were right.  Most of that success is because of the comic book movie understanding that director Bryan Singer brings to the table.  The problem is that Singer is now in the middle of a giant underage sex abuse lawsuit.  Singer has motioned to dismiss the suit, but if he is found guilty Fox is in trouble because they have pinned all their future superhero hopes on him and the universe he is setting up.  True Roman Polanski has proven creeps can work in Hollywood for a long time, but you had better believe Fox is hoping that this suit goes away, and that they are looking for a hot new young director for X-Men: Apocalypse just in case.  They say they are sticking with the director for now, but for how long?

Edgar Wright leaves Ant Man:

This is very sad news for me because when Marvel announced that the father of the hilarious Cornetto Trilogy was directing Ant Man, I was super excited.  Ant Man was looking to be the first truly funny Marvel movie, but it looks like Edgar Wright has left the project after Marvel decided to rewrite his script.  Knowing Marvel they want a certain feel to their movies, and they need the universe to hold together in specific ways.  Wright is kind of a free spirit, so something tells me those things caused friction.  I am still looking forward to Ant Man, mostly because Marvel is on an impressive streak, but this is an unfortunate loss, and I hope that Wright makes a funny movie soon to console me.

Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice: What is in a name?

So they named Batman Vs. Superman, and it is Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice.  Wow.  I didn’t think they could screw up the name, but they did.  If anything they just should have called this movie World’s Finest as a nod to the long running Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman team up, and everyone would have lost their minds, but no, with the “V.” they made it sound like a court case or something.  Though seeing Superman and Batman sanding before a judge arguing about damages sounds awesome!  Then there is the “Dawn of Justice” subtitle.  This just sounds like they are admitting to trying to doing too much with this movie.  It is like they didn’t learn anything from The Amazing Spider-Man 2.  If this movie manages to be under three hours long I will be shocked.  They still have two years to prove me wrong, but I have a bad feeling about this.  At least DC is making great TV shows!

Anything else interesting happen while I was away that you would like my thoughts on?  Drop me a line, and let me know!