Red Summary and Synopsis
(Retired Extremely Dangerous)
RED stands for retired extremely dangerous which begins by following the lead character Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) a retired CIA agent as he goes through a typical day in quiet suburbia. Frank goes about what an average retirees day might be like even doing some Christmas decorations but eventually after starting to like Sarah Ross (Mary-Louis Parker) a Pension Department Employee he begins shredding his checks so he can talk to her on the phone. Soon enough a team of highly armed assassins infiltrate Franks house and try to murder him. He dispatches them rather easily losing his home in the process and determines that whoever is trying to kill him will use Sarah as leverage because he likes her. He decides to kidnap her in order to protect her from the assassins despite her objections. Frank convinces Sarah that she is in danger leading to the pair seeking out other REDs to help them discover who is trying to kill them and to stop them no matter what the costs. Soon the group of retirees discover the Vice President is the one who issued the order and find themselves waging a war against the CIA, security teams, assassins, and mercenaries culminating in an explosive ending that proves experience is the best skill to have.
Throughout the entirety of the movie there is a vast amount of stereotypes and ageism displayed by all characters toward the REDs. Despite their illustrious pasts in the agency Frank and his allies are constantly ridiculed simply for being older and retired. The many younger characters attitudes toward the retirees often exemplify that they feel due to their age the REDs are not only frail but incompetent as well. Great examples of this are numerous where antagonists often slander Frank calling him “a broke-down retiree” or “just an old man.” The movie greatly addresses this aspect of ageism from the beginning by continually showing the retirees proving themselves to be much more competent than the younger antagonists. The stereotype of all elderly people being senile is thrown at the retirees especially Marvin who displays a very edgy paranoid demeanor throughout the film. Regardless of his shortcomings and deteriorating mental capacity Marv more than proves himself to be a valuable and important member of the team. The movie did a great job of addressing these issues showing that age does not define a person and truly made me reflect on how much I underestimate the elderly in my life as well.
The concept in adult development of middle adulthood, mid-life transitions, and coping with all the problems that accompany them are perfectly personified in RED. During the early stages of the movie it is quite obvious that Frank is not greatly enjoying his retirement often