Red 2

**½

I was actually starting to like you. I was even thinking about not killing you. This is what happens when you try to save the world.

I do not know why it took me over a month to review this okay movie. It fairs poorly compared to 22 Jump Street. That is all that needed to be said, right? If you did not like the original Red—CIA designation for Retired Extremely Dangerous—then there is a .1% chance that you will enjoy this sequel. If you thought the first one was a cinematic achievement then this is the movie for you. Also, if you thought that, you must be blood related to the director, Dean Parisot—Galaxy Quest.

Every aspect of this movie is worse than in the original, but there was an infusion of fresh blood. The overrated or oft-ill cast Anthony Hopkins competently plays an English spy/scientist who has been locked up for decades. Byung-hun Lee—I Saw the Devil AND The Good, The Bad, and The Weird—gets wasted in his first English speaking roll as the Jason Statham type who is hired to kill Bruce Willis. Neal McDonough—Walking Tall—always plays a villain so he got the Karl Urban character whose NSA villainy was surprisingly neutral. And then there are the bonuses of David Thewlis and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Boom!