Red 2 - 2 smiles

Red, the 2010 sleeper hit, was refreshing. Not only were the movie’s heroes all older than 50, but the action-comedy paid as much attention to the comedy as to the action and the result was movie-going fun. Sequels, for the most part, are repetitive and stale, so it’s no surprise that the luster has faded in “Red 2.” The bigger blow is just how clunky and unsatisfying this follow-up feels. As the movie opens, CIA retires Frank (Bruce Willis) has returned to the quite life, shopping at Costco, with his girlfriend, Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker). As he attempts to embrace the joys of normal life, she is despondent. She craves adventure. Luckily, Frank’s quirky former partner, the conspiracy theorist Marvin (John Malkovich), appears with new information. The trio ends up traveling to Paris, Moscow and London, trying to discern the meaning of Operation Nightshade. Frank and Marvin have been accused of spearheading the deadly mission even though they know nothing about it. New enemies have cropped up to take the three heroes down, including the world’s best contract killer Han (Byung-hun Lee), the sadistic Jack (Neal McDonough) and even their old friend Victoria (Helen Mirren). To spice things up, Catherine Zeta-Jones shows up as Katja, Frank’s ex-lover. And Anthony Hopkins plays an institutionalized scientist who may be the key to the Nightshade puzzle.

The plot is overly busy and the focus of the movie is action: shootouts, car chases, shootouts during car chases, hand-to-hand combat, helicopter crashes and bomb explosions. Missing is the banter that elevated the original, which gave it its appeal. Frank and Sarah had great chemistry, Frank and Marvin exchanged amusing barbs, Sarah and Victoria shared dating advice. The script, by Jon Hoeber and Erich Hoeber, pays no attention to dialogue. And while there’s a lot of action, much of it looks computer-generated.  Red director Robert Schwentke didn’t return for the sequel (but his latest, “R.I.P.D.” is a lot worse.) Nonetheless, the director for “Red 2,” Dean Parisot, can hardly be blamed for the Hollywood machine that takes any surprise hit and churns out a follow-up as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, that means quality suffers. 7/19/13