Stars Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, Helen Mirren, Anthony Hopkins, Byung Hun Lee, Catherine Zeta Jones, Neal McDonough with David Thewlis and Brian Cox Directed by Dean Parisot At times, this does seem like a pointless sequel to a neat little movie about a bunch of retired spies. At other times, this fun little romp does seem better than the first movie in terms of action and comedy. Playing into recent events of leaked classified materials, a black ops report turns up on the internet which peripherally involved Frank Moses (Bruce Willis). Of course, the nature of that particular operation ends up with agents from America (represented by Neal McDonough), England (represented by Helen Mirren's Victoria) and Russia (represented by Catherine Zeta Jones) all hounding Frank, who just wants a nice quiet life with girlfriend, Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker) who actually wants none of that. Much of the movie's running gag is the relationship between Frank and Sarah while helping the others uncover the MacGuffin at the core of the rather ludicrous plot (would there any other kind given the nature of the movie?) that has our character hopping across the globe. Also, most of them seem hellbent on advising Frank on how to handle (encouragingly) matters with Sarah. And to make matters trickier, Frank and gang are pursued by master assassin Han (Byung Hun Lee). Director Dean Parisot (of Galaxy Quest) handles the comedy fairly well and manages to keep the action quotient up, even replicating a key stunt from the first movie. Or at least, the reverse of it. The pace moves along at a decent clip, which is actually much better than the first movie which took its time to set up the premise and introduce the characters. The stars do seem to take things easy and cruise through their performances, but there is also the sense of fun that is prevalent. Mirren is obviously enjoying herself, even having a moment to send up the Queen, and pulling off a high-kick. Anthony Hopkins also appears to be having a ball playing a character who's a little off centre and Catherine Zeta Jones gets to smoulder as the dusky femme fatale. Willis and Malkovich have their parts down pat while Parker, depending on your mood, may entertain or grate your nerves. In all, the movie delivers on what it intends, which is simply to entertain. There are no oscar-caliber performances here even from the previous oscar winners, and why would there be? As mentioned at the beginning, this is a romp of an adventure. The action kicks off fairly early and the energy barely wanes. At the very least, it is a decent sequel, carried along with a silly hunt for a MacGuffin. So, passable entertainment and nothing more to ask for.
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