2010′s Red was a fun action romp that featured both the expected in Bruce Willis and the unexpected in a hilarious John Malkovich and a gun-toting Helen Mirren. The $58 million comic adaptation grossed $200 million world-wide, and Summit happily moved forward on green-lighting a sequel. (Those sons of bitches over at Paramount can take a hint from that decision.)
Most of the surviving cast members are returning alongside screenwriters Erich and Jon Hoeber, but director Robert Schwentke is not. Dean Parisot is taking his place, and while his name may not be recognizable maybe you’ve heard of a little, near perfect gem called Galaxy Quest? Yeah, he made that one.
Check out Red 2‘s old school action below.
Mary-Louise Parker is so damn cute in that Costco.
The story looks fairly similar with government agents trying to kill Frank Moses (Willis) again, but at least this time he gets to take the action international. Mirren, Malkovich and Parker rejoin the fun alongside newcomers Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Lee Byung-hun and David Thewlis.
The cast is great, but I’m especially happy to see Lee getting more American film work. Sure (and unsuprisingly) he’s playing the bad guy, but if Jet Li’s appearance in the otherwise abysmal Lethal Weapon 4 taught us anything it’s that playing the villain in an action/comedy sequel is a guaranteed door-opener to romantic leading men roles.
But seriously. Where are the Asian leading men in Hollywood?
Red 2 hits theaters August 2nd.