
Director: Robert Schwentke
Screenplay: John Hoeber, Erich Hoeber
Production Co.: Summit Entertainment/DC Entertainment/Di Bonadventura Pictures
Year of Release: 2010
The word of the day is: Honesty. So I'm going to be honest, this was a pretty ambitious flick for me to review, simply because; what is there to say? It's a movie about a bunch of retired CIA agents kicking ass. What's there to critique? Well, I honestly don't know but I'll give it a go anyway.
First thing's first - this flick is goofy. It knows exactly what it is and it has a hell of a time messing around with it. It's big, it's loud, it's fast, and it's... A bunch of old people...? It's based on the graphic novel by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner, which I, admittedly, have not read. However I would imagine that the films overtly comical style derives from that source.
It's not a movie to take seriously, it's got fun characters, and the script, directing, cinematography - everything, really just works to reflect that. There isn't a whole lot I can say about this film except for the fact that it's greatest strength, also happens to be it's greatest flaw: You really do have to leave your brain at the door for this one, which I'm sure anyone could expect from a film which title is an abbreviation of "Retired, Extremely Dangerous". There's a lot to love with this flick, but also a lot to simply, get bored with...
So if you want to go out and have a fun, simple easy going night with your friends, check it out. It also wouldn't be a bad flick for a first date. So go see it, enjoy it, have fun watching John Malkovich acting like a 10 year old paranoid schizophrenic, and the (always) delightful Mary-Louise Parker playing the every(wo)man, fitfully screaming at the expected absurdity. And just enjoy the hell out of old people kicking ass.
Overall rating: 6.0