Red 2 (2013) Directed by Dean Parisot

A sequel that's better than the original? In my opinion yes, definitely!

Now, I'm not saying that this movie features a better story in it than the original. As a matter of fact; it's pretty much just as messy and nonsensical all. However, the film-makers themselves seemed to be very well aware of this as well and movie itself is at times even making fun of its own story. This means that the movie is far more self aware and therefore also more fun to watch than its predecessor.

But that's not the only thing that's better. Compared to the original, this movie improved in just about every way. So, better acting, better characters but also better comedy and action but more importantly; a better and more effective combination of it.

It's weird, this movie stars basically all of the same actors in it, playing all of the same characters again, yet both the acting and characters work out way better in this. Suddenly, Bruce Willis is a convincing and likable action star in this and suddenly, the John Malkovich character works out as a truly funny one, instead of a mostly annoying and over-the-top one. Every character feels improved and the movie welcomes some new, fun, fresh characters as well. I especially was fond of the villains. Just like the first movie; it mostly is starring a bunch of 'small' villains, rather than just one big one but in this case it's working out really well for the movie, due to the simple reason that the villains are good ones, played by some fine actors as well. I can't spoil everything, since some villains don't start out as villains but I for instance really liked Neal McDonough in his role. Has he ever played a villain before? I seriously don't remember ever seeing him as a villain in anything but he's really excellent as one.

It's very obvious that this movie benefited from the change in the director's seat. Dean Parisot is obviously a director who seems to know and understand what it takes to make a movie a fun and funny one to watch, as opposed to Robert Schwentke who directed the first 2010 "Red" movie. But the humor isn't just more enjoyable, so are its action scenes. This actually is a pretty exciting movie to watch at times, that also manages to become a tense one at parts. Despite its weak and messy story, the movie still has some pretty decent storytelling in it.

But as often is the case with these type of movies; this is not really a story driven movie. It's all about its fun, adventure and action, which luckily all is good enough to make this a pretty good and entertaining genre flick, with some pretty good acting by its impressive cast as well.

7/10

Watch trailer