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CIA veterans prove they still have what it takes in star-filled spy flick ‘RED’

Bruce Willis turned 55 this year, which in most areas of our economy would make him undesirable and expendable.

John Malkovich (foreground), Bruce Willis, and Helen Mirren in a scene from "Red." Willis plays a black-ops veteran who is retired - until someone decides to riddle his house with rounds of ammunition and artillery fire.
John Malkovich (foreground), Bruce Willis, and Helen Mirren in a scene from "Red." Willis plays a black-ops veteran who is retired - until someone decides to riddle his house with rounds of ammunition and artillery fire.Read more

Bruce Willis turned 55 this year, which in most areas of our economy would make him undesirable and expendable.

Willis, or course, is a Hollywood star, and in no danger of prolonged unemployment - he's not expendable, he's in "The Expendables."

So while he's not the guy cashiered into the void of obsolescence and idleness known as early retirement, he's a good enough actor to play that guy, which he does in "RED."

The title is an acronym for "Retired, Extremely Dangerous," a description that suits Willis' character, Frank Moses, a former CIA wetworker who spends long days in an empty suburban home, striking up phone conversations with Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker), a daffy woman in the government benefits department.

Telephone relationships are normally deadly to movies, but "RED" manages to build a playful and unexpectedly touching bond, drawing on the actors' knack for comedy, using the empty spaces of Frank's sparse home and Sarah's joyless cubicle to suggest a union of kindred spirits.

Frank rips up his retirement checks and pretends they're lost, giving him an excuse to call Sarah and talk about romance novels, travel, whatever.

It's the short, sweet prologue before the inevitable action kicks in. A hit team tries to kill Frank, and learns the hard way he's not helpless. Frank then kidnaps Sarah, figuring that their loopy conversations will be mistaken for coded conspiracy, putting her life in danger.

Actually, Sarah's life is in danger either way - going on the lam with Frank is a nonstop ordeal of survival. The CIA wants to kill him, and a dirty group of former associates (Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Brian Cox) bands together to fight back.

"RED" isn't foremost an action movie or a thriller. I saw it a month ago and can barely remember the plot or the stunts. But I remember the cast enjoying itself. The movie's goal, shrewdly, is to see how much fun its collection of Oscar nominees and winners can have playing the Over the Hill Gang of espionage.

Plenty, as it turns out. Older cast members rage against the dawning of the light and light up a few younger agents (which, though satisfying, will do nothing to improve their pension shortfall).

"RED," in the long run, doesn't get much from the promising Frank-Sarah relationship. The writers give up on her character - Frank has to drug her to get from place to place safely and efficiently. Weirdly, disturbingly, this is the second movie this year in which the chemistry between the two leads can be traced to Rohypnol. (Remember Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz in "Knight and Day"?)

There is an interesting relationship afoot, but it's between Frank and the young CIA thug (Karl Urban) assigned to track and kill him. There are mortal stakes involved, but Frank is curiously protective of his adversary, seeing him as an unevolved version of himself - adding a black-comedy edge to the old-age hijinks on view elsewhere.

"RED" is adapted from a semi-obscure graphic novel, one that took the subject matter much more seriously and had a more downbeat tone, by all accounts. Here's evidence that departing from the source material isn't always a bad idea.