I can’t remember why it’s Red in the first place. Code Red? Something like that. Anyway Red 2, the sequel, brings back the old guys from the rollicking first movie, and throws them into the deep-end of some complex and convoluted turmoil that necessitates random killings, transitory alliances and blowing shit up. The plot has something to do with an old British spy from the Cold War who’s buried a nuke in the Kremlin (because, you know, well, yes….) and the guys have to both rescue him and prevent the bomb from falling into the wrong hands.
The wrong hands is that revolting, moon-faced old gerontophile Catherine Zeta Jones, who’s supposed to act all sexy but spends most of the film being as big-boned and charmless as bad drag. Even the Mary Louise Parker character – so quirky and delightful in the first movie – has devolved into a bored housewife who basically gets off on guns and violence. Red 2 filmed in London and Moscow, amongst other places, and has a few nice aerial shots to prove it, but otherwise it’s fairly non-challenging in the locations department. It’s not a bad film, but it’s seriously disappointing after the promise of the first.