5/10
If you only go and see one movie about a bunch of ageing tough guys coming out of retirement for one last job, make sure it's this one, not The Expendables, which like this film, features Bruce Willis. This is not so much a recommendation as a warning.
Sylvester Stallone's gruesomely awful film is released on dvd very soon, and should be avoided at all costs. This slightly more sophisticated movie isn't the worst two hours I've ever spend in a cinema, though a long way from the best.
Willis is a retired CIA agent, specialising in Black Ops, which in film terms means he has an endless stash of weapons, an ability to kill anyone by tickling them on the elbow, and a talent for disguise that mainly involves wearing a hat to conceal his baldness. He has been chatting up Mary Louise Parker on the phone, but when bad guys come looking for him, he not only has to escape but to take her with him, as his unwilling date. Along the way they pick up old chums Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren and Brian Cox (technically, a former adversary, but who cares). They're up against Richard Dreyfuss and a big bloke who's determined to kill them; and he has the CIA behind him.
The plot is neither here nor there. There are the usual unimaginative and unbelievable tales of betrayal, assassination and cover ups, which provide an excuse for shoot ups and car chases, but there is also an attempt to inject a note of humour, and even, heavens to Betsy, some romance. Despite all the big names above the title, it's the actress with the least high profile who makes it all tick. Mary Louise Parker has been around since the early 1990s, without making a big splash, but she gives the film a solidity and humour that it would otherwise lack in the middle of all the starry names performing their pony tricks. And her presence manages to put some life and light into Willis's normally half-shut eyes, as if he's enjoying himself more than usual.
As I say, I wouldn't go so far as to recommend this film, which is acceptable as harmless entertainment, but no more. There is no serious attempt to create a credibly thrilling scenario; we are in the 'with one bound they were free' territory. There are the usual casual acts of violence in which pain and injury seem magically sponged away or ignored, but it's a rare pleasure to see women (let's not forget Helen Mirren as a one woman hit squad) getting a look in alongside the men.
