Red: Critic Reviews

Unfortunately, while Red's stars may have gotten better with age, its many cliches have not.

It is possible to have a good time at RED, but it is not a very good movie. It doesn't really try to be, and given the present state of the Hollywood economy, this may be a wise choice.

It's very silly and runs out of steam well before the end, though there are one or two gags.

If the story made more sense and the humor were more abundant, this could have been a bona-fide winner. Instead it falls smack in the realm of forgettably mediocre.

The one-liners zing right along with the bullets in a playful pas de deux of mayhem, misdirection and mordant humor.

What might have been a guilty-pleasure romp is hobbled by poor direction, sloppy pacing, and a story line that can't decide whether it's farce or a retread.

Classiest. Comic. Book. Movie. Ever.

An action comedy as entertaining to watch as it evidently was to make.

Only in Hollywood is someone seriously old at 55, but this is the underlying thesis of Red, and it works like a well-worn charm.

Old people who kill people are so much cuter than young people who kill people, right? In a movie like RED, that's all we need to know.

[Strikes] a careful balance between quasi-cartoonish shoot-outs and oddball humor, which ranges from droll to silly without ever going too far over the top.

Red has ka-booms, rat-a-tat-tats and a wildly extended first date. It's edgy and fantastically gooey -- and flaunts it.

Although there's no dearth of spectacular gunplay and fisticuffs in Robert Schwentke's light-hearted actioner, what makes RED really rock is old-fashioned movie-star style.

RED is neither a good movie nor a bad one. It features actors we like doing things we wish were more interesting.

RED stands for "Retired, Extremely Dangerous," though "Reasonably Entertaining Diversion" works too.

Much of the enjoyment comes from seeing these respected thespians so thoroughly embody cartoon characters; it's like Sidney Lumet directing Space Jam.

Too long, too busy, too loud, and too reliant on slam-bang stunt work, Red's glib dialogue and sinister government scenarios begin to wear.

It's halfway between comedy and action, and it doesn't quite work as either.

You're never too old for mayhem.

Red isn't a great movie, but it's great fun, and if that sounds like damning with faint praise, you take things too seriously.

An amusing, light-footed caper about a team of aging CIA veterans rudely forced out of retirement.

Red, perhaps the first CIA-AARP flick, fits seniors with grenade launchers instead of slippers. I say it's about time.

RED has enough acting flourishes and incidental action pleasures to make it an adrenalin-jacked giggle, if not exactly the romp one so fervently expects.

How it all ends up is significantly less interesting than how they get there. It's a hoot to watch the elegant Mirren shift from high heels to combat boots, as she gamely goes from arranging flowers to being locked and loaded.

What really works for Red is our shared history with the actors involved.