RED 2 (2013)

Director: Dean Parisot
Starring: Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich

Synopsis:
Frank Moses finds himself being targeted once again, this time regarding a Cold War superweapon and the institutionalized scientist who created it.

Impressions:
When it comes to sequels, a good one maintains the standard of the original, a great one kicks it up a notch, a bad one lowers the bar, and a terrible one makes fans pretend it never happened. In the case of RED 2, it fits in the first category. While I think it loses a little something without the novelty of the original, it's nevertheless a solid film that stands toe-to-toe with its predecessor. Most of the cast returns and they do just fine in their roles. Newcomers include Lee Byung-hun, who shines as the vengeful Korean assassin Han (playing a similar role to Karl Urban's Cooper from the previous film as a younger analog to Moses) and Anthony Hopkins as the absent-minded professor Dr. Bailey. Neal McDonough isn't bad as the wetwork man Horton and the same goes for Catherine Zeta-Jones as Moses' old flame Katja. Now, if you don't like the Moses-Sarah relationship, or more particularly the trouble they have negotiating a balance between their competing desires, priorities and interests, that aspect of the film may grate a bit. There's good action (especially when Han is on the screen) and some decent twists as well. If you liked the first film, I'm pretty sure you'll like this. Give it a watch.

Rating:
Watch It