Bruce Willis recently appeared in Sylvester Stallone's very ropey movie The Expendables, based on the premise of ageing tough guys still kicking ass. Red has a similar idea, but manages it with a little more wit. Willis now plays Frank Moses, a retired CIA assassin who lives a quiet, lonely existence and has fallen gently in love with Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker), who answers the telephone at the Agency's pensions department. Then he finds himself the subject of an attempted wet-job by unknown assailants, and realises Sarah is in danger, too. So he kidnaps her for her own good and rounds up his old crew for a fight-back: John Malkovich as an aggressive, pursed-mouth nutjob (not exactly a stretch); Morgan Freeman as the sonorous-voiced wise older guy (again, not a stretch). With tongue in cheek, Helen Mirren plays an ex-MI5 hitwoman: Dame Helen gamely, if gingerly, handles the macho hardware. It's very silly and runs out of steam well before the end, though there are one or two gags.