Red (Robert Schwentke, 2010)

This hotchpotch of equal parts of The Bourne Supremacy, Die Hard and Space Cowboys far too obviously started life as the unhappy offspring of a studio exec brainstorming session, presumably with the brief of getting the last drops out of the tank of a gamut of big names. Or maybe the brief was just 'what if we have Helen Mirren as an assassin?'
The result brings Willis, Mirren, Malkovich and Freeman together as former black ops spooks who now find themselves framed for a crime they did not commit. Which actually makes it The A-Team. Anyway, they band together to find out who's trying to kill them and perform all manner of pulling the wool over the opposition's eyes along the way.
To be fair, the incessant action is crisp and some of the verbal interplay raises a smile, though that's the least that you're paying top-line pros for. It's just that the ideas are so tired.

4/10