Directed by Robert Schwentke
Frank (Bruce Willis), Joe (Morgan Freeman), Marvin (John Malkovich) and Victoria (Helen Mirren) are retired CIA agents. Frank lives alone in a desolately bare house and rips up his pension cheques so he can talk on the phone with Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker). Joe has liver cancer and lives in an old age home. Marvin keeps himself occupied as an acid-damaged paranoid survivalist who has never really left the war zone and Victoria is just plain bored with arranging flowers. All this changes when a group of assassins break into Frank’s house in the middle of the night and another group target Joe in his bathroom at the nursing home.
The group is targeted for removal by the latest CIA administration and they decide to fight back. In between fighting to stay alive, they decide to break into CIA Headquarters to try to discover why they have suddenly become target practice. Somehow Sarah finds herself in the middle of all the action, which is all right by her because all she ever wanted to do was to go some place exciting. Former Russian agent Ivan (Brian Cox) also gets thrown into the mix and he tries to rekindle his relationship with Victoria.
Why wouldn’t you go to see a film with this cast, even though their average age is 63 (not counting 93 year-old Ernest Borgnine)? It would appear that it is not only the rock musicians who can make encore appearances in their later years. The film is a great romp with many cross-referenced jokes but the cast seem to be having far too much fun for anything bad to happen to them. There’s never a doubt that the audience will be left on a high as they contemplate the sacrifices that are forced upon us as we grow older.
Lezly Herbert
