There is a breath of fresh air amidst the deadening gunplay of Red, a comic-book adaptation about a group of retired CIA operatives who are dragged back into heavy-duty action. It isn’t the old folks conceit, though that does allow for the peculiar sight of John Malkovich and Helen Mirren wielding oversized weapons. Rather, it’s the casting of Mary-Louise Parker. The “Weeds” star plays Sarah Ross, a customer-service rep who has developed a sweet, long-distance romance with Frank Moses (Bruce Willis), who often calls her up just to chat. When she – and we – discover Frank is actually a former spook with a team of killers on his trail, their burgeoning relationship takes a turn for the bombastic. Parker takes this all in comic stride. Those big dark eyes give her a dewy sort of dippyness, which plays nicely against all the tough-guy posturing otherwise on display. She even melts Willis a bit; they smile at each other in just the right way. As for the rest of the film, it mostly consists of tiring pyrotechnics – even when someone like Morgan Freeman, as another retiree, happens to be handling the detonator.
