Critic Reviews

Red 2 not only delivers the action, laughs and thrills of the original — in many ways it surpasses it.

The best thing about RED 2, like its predecessor, is its lightness of tone. Too many movies with comic-book roots come on too seriously, even when the comics themselves have a loose, fast, jocular wit about them.

About halfway through Red 2, in the midst of all the laughs and action, suddenly Anthony Hopkins shows up, and he doesn't care one bit that nobody is going to notice his acting in a movie like this. He's going for the Oscar anyway.

Like its predecessor, it’s a one-joke movie; the difference is that this time around, the joke is better.

Anthony Hopkins, new to the franchise, is introduced in a prison cell, in stir-crazy shades of Hannibal Lecter. At 53, Catherine Zeta-Jones is nearly too young for this stuff.

Red 2 goes down easily, from Marvin’s demented moments of relationship advice to Dame Helen’s tender and amusing “Hitchcock” reunion with Sir Anthony. There’s a knowing twinkle in their eyes, and in everybody else’s. “Yeah, we could’ve done a Bond film,” they seem to wink. “And it would’ve been a bloody fun one, at that.”

The film has its charms but the end result feels like warmed-over James Bond… and not even especially good 007, at that.

Red 2 is one of those sequels that's easier to follow if you've seen the original but more entertaining if you haven't.

I did my homework and watched the original "RED." It was just as stupid as this movie, yet I liked it a little more.

In its long, punishing final act, Red 2 goes beyond its mandate as a lark to pose as a true action caper.