Red [2008] [DVD]

This is an excellent revenge movie, tautly paced, sympathetically told. One senseless act by rich idiotic children is the straw that broke the camel's back. Avery Ludlow (ever reliable Brian Cox) is a widower whose sense of justice is geared up slowly. Where Ketchum (writer) succeeds is that the plot is always believable. What do you do if you know the children who killed your dog? you go to their parents. Ludlow is polite, never accusatory, always cool (Eastwood like. Mitchum like. A Jimmy Stewart for our times). Sizemore (the boys father) too is great - misguided and pompous - a prick. The tension is racked up, never stretching credulity. Where Eastwood in Gran Torino was all grunts and groans and the movie came across as a 'cute' and worthy in places - this is raw, backwoods stuff, far more suited to the horror genre. Indeed, Ketchum and Lucky McGee have gone on to do this very successfully in 'The Woman'. I watched 'The Woods' lately too, another McGee film - this is a wonderful writer/director pairing. These guys are making superb, gripping dramas and Red has been sadly passed over. Highly recommended.

I love this film! A great movie, Red, starring Brian Cox, fantastic actor. However, This Is NOT, RED, which also features Brian Cox, Helen Mirran .....etc - Hard to believe, same actor, same Title - But there you are

Avery Ludlow lives alone with his dog, Red, who was a gift from his wife for his 50th birthday. His wife died many years ago, so Avery and Red have formed a very strong bond. When Avery goes fishing by a lake, three youths with a shotgun approach him and Red. After some banter, the leader of the group decides to try and rob Avery at gunpoint. Avery doesn't have any money on him which makes Danny furious, before the youths leave, Danny decides to shoot Red in the head. Danny and his friend, Pete, clearly find it hilarious, whilst Danny's brother, Harold, seems shaken up. The three walk away still laughing, leaving Avery to cradle his dead friend in his arms. Avery later finds out the identity of the boys and goes to see the brothers father, he decides to take his sons word over Avery's despite it being clear they're lying. When Avery goes to the sheriff to report the crime, he's basically told that there's nothing that can be done, he can maybe get $100 for "damaged property". Disgusted by the fact that no charges can be pressed, he decides that just an admittance and apology from the boys will suffice. When the boys continue to deny what they've done, events escalate wildly out of control.Brian Cox is wonderful as Avery, it's a subtle, poignant performance. Red isn't a Death Wish or Death Sentence type of film, Avery just wants the kids to admit to what they've done. Cox isn't hunting down people and blowing their brains out, he's simply an ageing man that's lost his best friend and wants some kind of justice. He doesn't set out to kill everybody involved, he would have forgiven the boys if they admitted what they did, apologised and were punished accordingly. Cox has a few sad scenes, but there's one scene in particular when Avery is telling a reporter about his wife's death that I found heartbreaking. Brian Cox is a brilliant actor that doesn't quite get the credit he deserves, his excellent performance as Hannibal Lector in Manhunter is often overlooked in favour of Anthony Hopkins' fantastic, but over the top portrayal in Silence Of The Lambs. The Three boys all play their roles well, I hated Pete and especially Danny played by Shiloh Fernandez and Noel Fisher, Kyle Gallner made me feel sorry for him as Danny's younger brother caught in the middle, he hates what Danny did but can't sell his brother out. There's some really good supporting performances from Tom Sizemore as the brothers dad, Robert Englund and Amanda Plummer as Pete's parents, Kim Dickens as a sympathetic reporter and Richard Riehle as the sheriff. Ashley Laurence from Hellraiser plays the brothers mother.Red was shot on a budget of $2,500,000 by Lucky McKee and Trygve Allister Diesen, and originally starred Mckee regular Angela Bettis as reporter, Carrie. For unknown reasons McKee was fired and Diesen finished the film, Bettis was replaced by Dickens, again for reasons unknown. Whoever directed which scenes we'll probably never know, but it certainly hasn't affected the film in any way. Red doesn't feel disjointed at all, there's no sudden changes of style and it would be very difficult to try and guess who directed what. I don't know how much McKee actually directed, but I'm a fan May and The Woods that he made prior to this, so I tend to just think of Red as his movie. Red is based on a Jack Ketchum novel, for whatever reason McKee was fired, it hasn't put him off directing films based on Ketchum's novels, as his latest film, The Woman is one of Ketchum's. There isn't any nudity, and those expecting a Death Wish revenge film full of violence will be sorely disappointed. Red is very much a character driven film, that really lets the actors get their teeth into the roles.Red asks the audience a few questions, is killing someone's dog a serious crime or a misdemeanor? Is the killing of a dog worthy of someone taking justice into their own hands? Avery himself questions whether he should have let it go after the boys denied shooting the dog. As a person who has had pets in the past, I know that a pet becomes a family member and their death hits the family hard. I had no problem watching a film about a man seeking justice for a murdered dog, he lived alone with the dog for years, Red was a gift from his deceased wife, when they killed the dog, they killed his friend, they killed one of the few things he had left that reminded him of his wife. I felt the main kid Danny was a psychopath and revenge was fully justified, just as if he had shot an actual family member. It's a film about escalating violence, but pointlessly and senselessly killing someone's pet is not something that should be taken lightly. Is vigilantism right? No. Is a fine of $100 right? No. It's a film that shows that if the proper authorities had took the murder of a beloved pet seriously, the kids would have been arrested and Avery would have got the justice that he craved. I also liked how the film shows that one senseless moment of stupidity, can lead to many lives being completely destroyed.Picture quality is good, shame that such a good film has absolutely no extras, this could be due to the changing of directors. There's no subtitles. The front cover states "from the writer of The Grudge", it also looks like a horror film. It's not a horror film at all, it's a poignant drama with the odd moment of violence. A very good film.

I too brought this film because of the good reviews and because I like Horror/Thriller films. As a horror/thriller it was pants it looks scaryish from the cover but it's not like that at all. The film is good to watch and has a nice little story and for it's time it may have been quite a thriller but in this day and age it's very very tame compared to the things you can watch now, I would probably even let my kids watch this.

This was a shocking and upsetting film, the main character is one that you really feel for and you sympathise with his plight. The teenagers are well played by the actors. My only criticism was that 'red' was only in the film for about 7 minutes, which may have prevented an emotional relationship from developing between the viewer and 'red', yet I was still pretty distraught when he was killed.

I bought this film purely on a whim. I was watching the trailer before another film and was intrigued. be careful though because Brian Cox also stars in another film also called red with Bruce Willis. Personally I feel this is a better film.

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