Ex-CIA black ops agent Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) lives a quiet life in the suburbs. He is RED (Retired, Extremely Dangerous), but his great pleasure is talking to the pension call center’s Sarah Ross (Mary-Louise Parker). Suddenly one day, an assassination squad tries to kill him, but he kills them all and drives to Sarah’s house to protect her, as she is about his only contact in the world. When she refuses to leave with him, he kidnaps her. CIA agent William Cooper (Karl Urban) is told by his boss Cynthia Wilkes (Rebecca Pigeon) to eliminate Frank.
Frank ties up Sarah in a Louisiana motel room and goes to see his old friend Joe Matheson (Morgan Freeman) in his retirement home, hoping he can identify anybody in the assassin squad. It seems the same squad murdered a newspaper reporter in New York. Sarah gets loose and calls 911, revealing her location to the CIA. Frank saves her from Cooper and they escape to New York to investigate the reporter’s death. They find a list of names in the reporter’s records, almost all of which are now dead. Frank calls Joe and is told that Joe is dead.
Frank and Sarah track down the wildly eccentric former agent Marlin Boggs (John Malkovich) living off the grid in a Florida swamp, who discovers that all the names on the list are members of a 1981 mission in Guatemala. They track down Gabriel Singer (James Remar) who flew the mission. He is helping Frank and Marvin remember the mission when he is killed by a sniper in a helicopter. The other three escape and Frank gets the help of FSB (Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation) agent Ivan Simanov (Brian Cox) and with Sarah’s help they infiltrate the secure records vault at the CIA to find the Guatemala Five.
The records keeper (Ernest Borgnine) tells Frank that Cooper pulled the file, so Frank pays Cooper a visit in his office. Frank dislocates Cooper’s shoulder and Cooper wounds Frank with a gunshot. Frank and Sarah find Marvin held at gunpoint by Joe, who had escaped the assassination attempt at the retirement home. They go to get help from retired British assassin Victoria Winslow (A wonderful Helen Mirren) who is running a B and B. She stitches Frank’s wound and joins the group. They wait to meet Alexander Dunning (Richard Dreyfuss), an arms dealer who is the only one left on the list except for Frank and Marvin.
Joe poses as an African warlord hoping to buy weapons. Dunning reveals that the killings were ordered by the U.S. vice-president (Julian McMahon) to cover up his mass slaughter of innocent villagers in Guatemala. Cooper gets a tip leading him to Dunnings mansion, where he confronts Frank. Joe sacrifices his life to help Frank and Marvin escape, but Sarah is captured by Cooper. Frank breaks into Cooper’s house and calls Cooper to say that if Sarah is harmed, he will kill Cooper’s family.
Cooper finds the Guatemala file that Frank left, finds out that he is being used in a coverup and has himself assigned to the V.P.’s security detail. They kidnap the V.P. from a fundraising dinner but Victoria is shot and rescued by Ivan, who has always loved her. Frank calls Cooper and arranges to trade the V.P. for Sarah. Cooper, Cynthia, and Dunning bring Sarah to meet Frank. Dunning shoots the V.P. and offers to make Cooper the CIA director if he kills Frank and Sarah. Cooper kills Cynthia instead while Frank kills Dunning. Frank and Sarah are re-united and Cooper stays to clean up the situation. Doing the favor that Ivan asked for, Frank and Marvin end up running from Moldovan troops with a stolen nuclear device.
RED was inspired by the series in Homage Comics, associated with Dark Horse and DC Comics. The film was directed by Robert Schwentke, written by Jon and Eric Hoeber. It received generally positive reviews from critics and gained a Golden Globe nomination for Best Picture. It was the first DC film not produced by Warner Brothers. It was less violent and funnier than the comic. The cast, of course, was brilliant. A sequel RED 2, was made in 2013, but though it starred the same actors, it was not as successful.
Dame Helen Mirren had to learn to shoot a gun without blinking. That was why the cast of the Matrix Movies wore dark glasses. Victoria was based partly on Martha Stewart. Mirren signed on just to work with Bruce Willis and she beat out Meryl Streep for the role. Victoria’s purse was Hellen Mirren’s own, a gift from Giorgio Armani. She liked the white gown at the end of the movie so much she wanted to wear it to the Oscars. In Bulgaria, the film is called Besni Strashni Pensil, or Furious Frightful Pensioners. BSP is also the abbreviation of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, which is full of retired reds.