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

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There are few things more annoying than a simple action flick that gets told in a totally convoluted way, which is taking away most of the fun out of the movie.

This never feels like a complicated or terribly deep movie, yet, you'll most likely still have a hard time following the story. It's mainly because it's not a very focused movie. The story feels all over the place at times and it too often feels like the main characters don't even have a plan to go by and when they do have a plan, it usually is something incredibly silly, unlikely and just plain over-the-top. In any case, it never ever is anything engaging or likable to watch.

Besides, the movie feels like it consists out of two totally different and unrelated halves. The first half of the movie is a simply 'man on a mission' type of movie, involving the Bruce Willis character and the Mary-Louise Parker character as the sidekick/love interest. The second half of the movie however is more of a team on a mission movie, with also far more action in it, in which neither the Bruce Willis or Mary-Louise Parker character plays a big or significant role anymore. It just doesn't feel right and adds to the inconsistency and 'confusion' of the overall movie. It also is disappointing how this movie isn't featuring a strong main villain in it but instead a whole bunch of small ones, who are only in the movie for a couple of minutes. So you don't even always ever really know who the good guys are fighting against but more importantly; you don't even always know or understand what for or why either.

The fact that this movie stars a bunch of 'old' people in it is nothing but a gimmick. It doesn't make this movie any more fun or special to watch. It's like any other ordinary action flick, only executed more poorly than usual. It never becomes a very creative or original movie with anything and when it does, it just doesn't work out because it's usually something far too silly to watch.

Well, it still is far from the worst movie or action flick you can watch but still, of course more was to be expected from a movie starring the likes of Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Brian Cox, Karl Urban and Richard Dreyfuss in it. It doesn't exploits its potential or ever uses its talented cast very well but it at least still offers some mild entertainment, with both its action and comedy.

So, some mild entertainment in an otherwise weak and even somewhat messy action-comedy.

5/10

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Retired black-ops CIA agent Frank Moses reunites his unlikely team of elite operatives for a global quest to track down a missing portable nuclear device. From: IMDb.com

Retired black-ops CIA agent Frank Moses reunites his unlikely team of elite operatives for a global quest to track down a missing portable nuclear device. From: IMDb.com

Retired black-ops CIA agent Frank Moses reunites his unlikely team of elite operatives for a global quest to track down a missing portable nuclear device. From: IMDb.com

Retired black-ops CIA agent Frank Moses reunites his unlikely team of elite operatives for a global quest to track down a missing portable nuclear device.From: IMDb.com

Retired black-ops CIA agent Frank Moses reunites his unlikely team of elite operatives for a global quest to track down a missing portable nuclear device. From: IMDb.com

Retired black-ops CIA agent Frank Moses reunites his unlikely team of elite operatives for a global quest to track down a missing portable nuclear device.From: IMDb.com