R.E.D. - Older, Harder, Better - DVD

Film: It is very nice that some filmmakers and also actors steadfastly refuse to follow the pathological youth mania of Hollywood. After Sylvester Stallone last successfully chased a powerful gang of retirees across cinema screens in "The Expendables", German director Robert Schwentke ("Flightplan", "The Time Traveler's Wife") has now also rounded up an illustrious cast of old warhorses for an entertaining action thriller.

Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) is so not comfortable with being a retiree. He was once the CIA's top secret weapon, but now dull idleness defines his daily life in forced retirement. Only the regular phone calls with Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker), a pension fund employee who keeps contacting Frank about supposedly lost pension checks, brighten his gray existence. After a few months, the ex-agent takes heart and decides to pay a visit to his phone acquaintance. Although she is actually looking forward to it, the first meeting turns out a little different than expected. Frank has to leave his retirement home head over heels when it is attacked by a hit squad. And since he knows from experience that his attackers are well aware that he has a certain interest in Sarah, she is certainly also on the list of unknown enemies.

And so Frank takes the completely overwhelmed Sarah against her will into his care and sets out with her in tow to find out who wants to turn off his lights. He enlists the help of some old colleagues (Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren) and with their help quickly finds out that the elimination order against him comes directly from the CIA. But Frank Moses and his team, of course, don't let themselves get sidelined that easily...

With "R.E.D. - Older, Harder, Better" (R.E.D. stands for : Retired, Extremely Dangerous, that is: Retired and extremely dangerous) Robert Schwentke has really not reinvented the action genre. The story is a bit weak and also most of the action sequences seem kind of stale and not really original. And yet, the movie works damn well, offering best entertainment from the first to the last minute. The reason for this is not only the good-humored production, which also doesn't take itself too seriously. First and foremost, the film's success is due to the wonderful cast. Bruce Willis is as cool as ever, which becomes obvious in a scene where he casually gets out of a moving, spinning car and fires with a steady hand at his CIA pursuer Cooper (played magnificently by Karl Urban). Only when it comes to confessing his affections to Sarah does the swashbuckler struggle a bit, giving Willis the opportunity to show off his comedic talents once again as well.

Also, Morgan Freeman as an old philanderer who never misses an opportunity to stare at his young nurses' butts, and Helen Mirren as a passionate assassin who always keeps her composure, even with a machine gun in her hand. The obvious joy with which Mirren played this rather uncharacteristic role for her can be seen in every second of the celebrated actress and is thus transferred to the viewer as well.

But the secret star of the film is John Malkovich, who gets the best laughs as the paranoid Marvin. Malkovich is simply wonderful in this film and his scenes alone are reason enough to justify buying the movie ticket. But the brief guest appearances by Richard Dreyfuss ("Jaws") and the now 93 year old Ernest Borgnine also make this a quite wonderful film to watch. Sure, in terms of content, "R.E.D. - Older, Harder, Better" is not a real revelation and may even be a bit of a disappointment. But in the end, this point of criticism completely recedes into the background. Because what Robert Schwentke wanted to achieve with his film, namely to offer the audience simply well-made action fun with enormous entertainment value, the strip fully meets. A dream cast, great action and good gags, all this makes "R.E.D. - Älter, Härter, Besser" despite content weaknesses to one of the best action films of 2010. Absolutely worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: The picture quality is throughout on a very good level. Sharpness and coloration can absolutely convince, the contrasts could have been tuned a little better in the dark sequences, which goes in such moments a little to the detriment of the detail representation. But overall, the very clean picture gets a well-deserved: very good! The same goes for the sound, which, especially in the DTS mix, can thrill with numerous explosive surround effects, especially in the second half of the film.

Extras: Let's get started with a very interesting audio commentary by ex-CIA staff officer Robert Baer, who worked on the film as a consultant. In the optionally subtitled commentary, Baer talks about the things that were authentically done in the film, his own experiences, and liberties that a film like "R.E.D. - Older, Harder, Better" takes, but which have so little to do with reality. There are a few pauses here and there, but overall Baer delivers quite a few really interesting bits of information.

In addition, the film can be viewed with a trivia track that tells the viewer, among other things, how many different shades of red there are. Nice and quite amusing from time to time, but not really a must-see.

The DVD also has just under 9 minutes of deleted and extended scenes to offer. Most of these are really just minimal extensions that aren't really missing from the finished film. Only one brief moment between John Malkovich and Mary-Louise Parker is really worth watching. In numerous short clips with a total length of just under 30 minutes, the cast and crew offer a glimpse into the filming process. Since the individual clips are really very short (between 1 and 2 minutes), no in-depth information should be expected. A more detailed making of would have been desirable here.

A few CIA secrets are then also revealed (about 6 minutes) and in addition to the German and English trailer, the DVD offers a few program tips of the provider.

Conclusion: "R.E.D. - Older, Harder, Better" may have some weaknesses in terms of content. The wonderful ensemble of actors and the neatly staged action make the film but definitely worth watching. The DVD is technically very well implemented, the bonus material is clear, but well worth seeing! All this makes this DVD then absolutely recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp