RED

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details about RED's classification and consumer advice lines
• a review of RED completed by The Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 25 October 2010.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines.

ACCM review

This review of the movie RED contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie's message

A synopsis of the story

RED stands for ‘Retired Extremely Dangerous’ and that describes Frank Moses (Bruce Willis). He is a retired CIA agent and in his time he was one of the best. Frank lives in a quiet street, and has struck up a telephone relationship with Sarah (Mary Louise Parker) who is a customer service representative at the government pension agency.

One night Frank wakes up to find two gunmen in his house, and another group outside. They attempt to kill him but he escapes. The first thing he does is find Sarah as he knows that if his life is in danger, hers may be also. Having never met him face to face before, she is reluctant to go with him, but he kidnaps her and heads off to find some old colleagues who will help him find out why he has been targeted for assassination.

Together with the other retired agents, Joe (Morgan Freeman), Marvin (John Malkovitch), Ivan (Brian Cox) and Victoria (Helen Mirren), Frank and Sarah work to discover who wants to kill them and to save themselves and others.

Themes

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

The work of the CIA; war; the arms trade

Use of violence

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is frequent violence in this film, often with humorous overtones. Examples include:

• Frank is attacked by a group of CIA agents, he fights back and renders a number unconscious, then moves outside and shoots others.  They attack his house, and it is shredded by bullets.
• Frank kidnaps Sarah. He ties her up, tapes her mouth and ties her to the bed in the motel room. He constantly reassures her while doing this.
• Sarah is rescued by the police who turn out to be CIA and try to inject her with poison. She is rescued by Frank, who then proceeds to shoot his way out of the situation.
• Marvin threatens Frank and Sarah with a crossbow and then holds a large knife at Frank’s crotch.
• Frank, Marvin and Mary are attacked at an airport. They are shot with guns and a rocket.
• A brutal fist fight between Frank and Agent Cooper results in both having bloody noses, faces etc.
• Victoria fires a large machine gun at others before being by gunfire
  Frank threatens to torture Dunning, who is strapped to a chair. He suggests several types of torture and heats pliers in a flame before Dunning agrees to talk.
• Agent Cooper hangs a man. We see the man with a noose around his neck, then Cooper kicks a table out from under him and we see his legs kicking and then go still,

Material that may scare children

Under eight

Children under eight are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations, the death of a parent or child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

Children in this age group, who are not likely to understand the comedic tone of the violence, are likely to be disturbed by many scenes in this film, particularly those showing blood and injury, and a scene where severed fingers are sent by Frank to Joe in an envelope. There are also many explosions and some loud and suspenseful music.

Aged eight to thirteen

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

Children in this age group are also likely to be disturbed by the frequent violence in the film, including the scenes involving hanging and threatened torture.

Over the age of thirteen

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

Younger children in this age group may also be disturbed by some scenes in this film.

Product placement

None of concern

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

• Joe asks a carer in his nursing home to adjust the TV aerial - in reality he just wants to watch her bottom.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

• Frank and Sarah kiss briefly

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

• Several scenes where the characters drink alchohol.
• Reference to Marvin having taken LSD

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

• “shit”
• “f*ck”
• “arse”

The movie's message

RED is an action comedy with a star-studded cast.

The main messages from the film are that:

• people may not be what they seem
• just because you are retired, it doesn’t mean that you lose your skills

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include the importance of working as a team

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children:

• The role of organisations such as the CIA
• The level of violence seen in the film and the contrast with real life