Red

OPENING: 10/15/2010

STUDIO: Summit Entertainment

RUN TIME: 111 min

ACCOMPLICES:
Trailer, Official Site

The Charge
Still armed. Still Dangerous. Still got it.

Opening Statement
No matter how underwhelming the buzz was, I couldn’t help but get a little excited about seeing Red, a new action flick which assembles an all-star cast that includes Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Brian Cox, Karl Urban, Richard Dreyfus, Mary-Louise Parker and even Ernest Borgnine. That’s a pretty huge collection of talent, which makes it all the more disappointing that Red is a rather underwhelming motion picture.

Facts of the Case
The central figure of our story is Frank Moses (Bruce Willis, Die Hard), a retired CIA operative who spends his days thinking of reasons to talk to his pension service worker Sarah Ross (Mary Louise-Parker, Weeds). Over the years, they’ve developed something of a vaguely romantic relationship, though neither has ever acknowledged that fact. One day, Frank’s peaceful existence is violently interrupted when a team of assassins attempt to take his life. Frank immediately realizes that this is due to his slightly-too-intimate friendship with Sarah, which is apparently regarded by the CIA as a security risk. Frank travels to Kansas City, abducts Sarah and then tries to explain that he’s doing this because her life is in danger. Not the most effective way to tell a woman you love her, to be sure.

Realizing that he’s going to need help if he’s going to take on the vast resources of the CIA, Frank recruits some old pals from past missions: Joe Matheson (Morgan Freeman, Million Dollar Baby), Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich, Dangerous Liasons), Victoria (Helen Mirren, The Queen) and Ivan Simanov (Brian Cox, Deadwood). Together, Frank and his old pals dig around until they discover who is responsible for the attempted assassination.

The Evidence
With the ever-increasing stream of graphic novel adaptations hitting cinemas these days, it’s kind of amazing that it took this long for someone to tackle the works of acclaimed writer Warren Ellis. It’s equally surprising that the first project chosen for the big-screen treatment was Red, a relatively little-known work in comparison to achievements like The Authority, Planetary and Transmetropolitan. What’s most surprising of all is that the film version of Red has little to do with the comic. The book is a grim, fast-paced story about a lonely hitman getting revenge after a failed attempt on his life. The film gives Frank a friendlier personality, a lot of buddies and an almost entirely different plot to work with. Essentially, the film is faithful to its source material for about ten minutes before it veers off in its own direction. What could have been a lean, mean, efficient thriller is instead a rambling, cheerful, overstuffed thriller.

Honestly, I’m okay with that. The book is good, but it’s hardly a masterpiece that shouldn’t be tampered with. The film’s Grumpy Old Men inspired element is a promising idea, but the execution is clumsy and rarely becomes very interesting. The film seems to have the idea that piling lots of talented people into a generic story will somehow enliven it. Unfortunately, that happens far too little. Instead, we end up with a lot of scenes in which Oscar-caliber actors stand around smiling and winking at the audience, seemingly pleased with the fact that they’re getting to unwind and do the sort of thing they’re not asked to do much anymore.

The one noteworthy theme the film draws from the book is the conflict between two different generations of CIA operatives: the “old-school” tough guys and the hot-shot newcomers with all their technology, cell phones and fancy haircuts. The “old pros beat up on some young whippersnappers” plot is definitely aimed at an elderly audience, particularly when you consider that the primary representative for the young whippersnappers is Karl Urban (who is almost 40 years old). For the most part, the film plays like the rare action movie geared at aging viewers–not in its maturity level, but in the somewhat sedate, relaxed way in which the story unwinds. That would be all well and good were it not for the fact that the action scenes are shot in a typically hyperactive manner, giving the movie severe pacing problems. Just when it seems as if things are heating up, the film decides to calm down again.

I’ve noted that the film has an excellent cast, but one of the cast members is perhaps Red’s biggest liability: Bruce Willis. Is it just me, or does it seem like Willis simply doesn’t care about his profession much anymore? The past decade or so (with rare exceptions like Unbreakable and Sin City) has offered one lazy, uninteresting Willis performance after another, with the actor frequently hitting autopilot and falling back on his patented brand of subdued smugness. He doesn’t inhabit the role of Frank Moses so much as stroll through it, rarely bothering to invest anything substantial into his scenes. The fact that he appears in pretty nearly every scene in the film hurts Red significantly; he doesn’t give the other actors anything compelling to play off of.

Nobody’s going to win any awards for this thing, but it’s John Malkovich who walks away with the show. His looney performance provides the film with a few genuine laughs; a solid mainstream effort from the actor after a bad turn in Jonah Hex and a mixed one in Secretariat. Helen Mirren does what she can with a one-joke character (she’s a proper English lady who shoots people!), while Morgan Freeman just looks happy to have been invited to the party (he’s probably the most thoroughly wasted member of the cast). Richard Dreyfuss (Jaws) and Brian Cox have a good time chewing on their handful of scenes, while Karl Urban (Star Trek) and Rebecca Pidgeon (The Spanish Prisoner) capably deal with less colorful roles. Mary Louise-Parker is splendid in her early scenes as Frank’s conflicted would-be lover, but is quickly turned into the damsel in distress and then largely ignored for the remainder of the film’s running time. Finally, Ernest Borgnine brings a smile to the audience just by turning up and reminding us that he’s still alive.

Closing Statement
Red is a friendly flick that only wants to be liked, and given my feelings towards the cast I was willing to forgive some clichés and just enjoy the ride. Alas, there are too few pleasures offered to make this generic movie worth your ten bucks. Wait until it turns up on cable.

The Verdict
5/10

Surrogates

OPENING: 09/25/2009

STUDIO: Touchstone Pictures

RUN TIME: 88 min

ACCOMPLICES:
Trailer, Official Site

The Charge
Human perfection. What could go wrong?

Opening Statement
It’s becoming increasingly common to see the phrase, "Based on the Graphic Novel" appearing in trailers for new films. Hot on the heels of the graphic novel adaptation (and box office bust) Whiteout comes Surrogates, based on a 2005 collaboration between writer Robert Venditti and artist Brett Weldele. The graphic novel was generally well-regarded by those who actually read it (it certainly didn’t make a huge splash in the comic book world at the time of its release), but the cinematic version frequently struggles to successfully capitalize on the intriguing ideas presented in this story.

Facts of the Case
Surrogates takes place in a not-too-distant future, but the world has changed dramatically due to the invention of "Surrogates" (or "Surrys," as we shortcut-loving Americans have predictably dubbed them), humanoid machines designed to allow human beings to be whoever they want to be. Humans sit in the comfort of their homes, hook themselves up to a machine, and proceed to live vicariously through their surrogate as it wanders through the real world. Let’s say you’re an overweight, unattractive man. Why not purchase a handsome, good-looking surrogate and pretend that’s who you really are? Hey, why not just make yourself a woman, if that’s what you’re into? You can be anything you want to be. The best part: if your surrogate gets hurt, injured, or destroyed, you’re still safe at home. You can always buy another one.

The appeal of owning a surrogate is considerable, and almost all of humanity has chosen to live their lives through them. One day, something startling happens. A surrogate is destroyed and its human host is killed simultaneously. Initially, this is regarded as a weird coincidence. However, as the tragedy is repeated again and again, it becomes clear someone is out to destroy humans using surrogates. FBI Agents Greer (Bruce Willis, Die Hard) and his partner Peters (Radha Mitchell, Melinda and Melinda) are tapped to investigate the situation. Who is behind this string of violent attacks?

The Evidence
It’s often said television shows and movies present a portrait of humanity which is considerably more attractive and less realistic than real life. I remember a story told by a writer at Variety who talked about the day an episode of Entourage was filmed at his office. All of the frumpy, ordinary, middle-aged folks working there were shuffled out of the building and replaced by fit, attractive 20-and-30-somethings. We don’t want to look at ourselves as we are; we want to look at ourselves as we wish we were. That mentality serves as fuel for Surrogates, which offers a world in which everyone is an ideal specimen. You won’t find many old people, fat people, or ugly people in this world. Everyone looks like they belong on a magazine cover, because that’s who everyone wants to be. Meanwhile, the hosts of these surrogates sit at home, overweight, pale, and terrified when pondering the idea of actually entering the real world and interacting with others.

I find this sort of thing fascinating. Unfortunately, director Jonathan Mostow (whose credits include U-571 and Terminator 3) and the writing team of Michael Ferris & John Brancato (who scripted the dud Terminator: Salvation earlier this year) waste an awful lot of this particular future’s potential. While there are moments of thoughtfulness, curiosity, and even inventiveness, Mostow and Co. seem more interested in finding a way to turn a cool concept into a mundane, ordinary thriller. When the dust settles, Surrogates is just another disposable Bruce Willis action flick with some nifty moments.

The murder mystery at the heart of the film gets most of the attention, but the one thing that makes the murders so important seems rooted in faulty logic. For some reason, there is no murder in this surrogate-dominated world. Sure, surrogates get beat up and damaged all the time, but no human beings are killed. Why? It’s not because human beings no longer have the desire to kill, nor that technology is advanced enough to prevent murder (ala Minority Report). Supposedly, the fact that human beings are generally able to live through surrogates allows them to take out their violent impulses on other surrogates, so no human beings have been murdered in several years. I don’t buy it. I don’t think human impulses are capable of evolving so quickly, making this technology-fueled utopia feel even more artificial than it actually is.

That aside, the mystery isn’t particularly interesting. The investigation leads Agent Greer to a reservation for humans with no desire to live in a world where robots pose as humans. The leader of this group is a charismatic figure named The Prophet (Ving Rhames, Pulp Fiction), who is an interesting guy early on. However, The Prophet is one of several characters who do not reveal their true motivations until the film’s third act. When you discover the truth of these characters and attempt to match them up, you find a startling logical flaw that suggests the true villain could not have done what the film credits him with doing.

Of course there’s a heavy dose of action and ‘splosions along the way, scenes which are competent if fairly contrived. Mostow brings a good deal of whiz-bang energy to his third act chase sequence, but I was far less interested in seeing these characters beat on each other than I was learning more about them. Characterization is in very short supply in Surrogates, as the focus on plot and action over the course of 88 minutes leaves little time for such things. I suppose the writers felt having most characters appear as both human and surrogate made them two-dimensional. Bruce Willis is a predictably steady anchor for the proceedings, but his performance is merely functional. Meanwhile, the likes of Radha Mitchell, James Cromwell, Ving Rhames, and Rosumund Pike just aren’t given enough to do.


Closing Statement
I found Surrogates perfectly tolerable, mostly because the basic premise was touched on frequently enough to keep my brain engaged. In the hands of more capable writers and filmmakers it could have been a terrific piece of smart sci-fi entertainment. Instead, it’s destined to become the sort of flick that one watches on late-night cable when they have nothing better to do.

The Verdict
5/10