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articulatemadness's review
5.0
Normally I'd be beside myself that they would bastardize the film to release this solely for a cash grab, but Cully Hammer pulled this one out of his ass without Warren Ellis, who chose not to participate in these. Not too shabby.
RED: Better RED Than Dead is a prequel that answers the questions the film presented, which is really how Paul (now Frank in this to go with the film) Moses, Victoria, Joe, and Marvin became the REDs essentially.
Moses is ready to retire. He's getting a conscious about the job and is ready to take the brass ring and the watch package. His superiors decide he need to go guard the black guy running for POTUS. The mission is a clusterfuck and shows the treachery of the CIA getting what they want when they want out of him, which eventually leads to his retirement. There is also another story with him where he's training another agent who winds up being questionable in their allegiances, and in true Moses fashion, he gets to the bottom of it.
Victoria's story ties into Ivan's - this is the backstory of their 50 year love affair, which if you watched the movie you know she shot him three times in the chest when they were young. This tale explains the particulars of that and why it made him love her more while she ascended to being one of the best wetwork killers in the business.
Joe, the black guy, is sent to extract Russians, as if that's believable back in the 60s/70s. He also gets into a kerfluffle and gets the tables turned on him. He's good with a gun and he's quick on his feet so of course he gets out in tact, but of all the back stories this one they could have left on the cutting room floor.
Marvin's story answers all the questions about his paranoia of being slipped LSD while working for the CIA as a Man Friday safe cracker, robber, thief.
Essentially, this reads as a companion for the film, and when it was released it was to tie fans of the movie over until RED 2 came out, which, as we all know, was a bitter disappointment compared to the first film. A short, quick, comic read that you can breeze through with relative enjoyment.
RED: Better RED Than Dead is a prequel that answers the questions the film presented, which is really how Paul (now Frank in this to go with the film) Moses, Victoria, Joe, and Marvin became the REDs essentially.
Moses is ready to retire. He's getting a conscious about the job and is ready to take the brass ring and the watch package. His superiors decide he need to go guard the black guy running for POTUS. The mission is a clusterfuck and shows the treachery of the CIA getting what they want when they want out of him, which eventually leads to his retirement. There is also another story with him where he's training another agent who winds up being questionable in their allegiances, and in true Moses fashion, he gets to the bottom of it.
Victoria's story ties into Ivan's - this is the backstory of their 50 year love affair, which if you watched the movie you know she shot him three times in the chest when they were young. This tale explains the particulars of that and why it made him love her more while she ascended to being one of the best wetwork killers in the business.
Joe, the black guy, is sent to extract Russians, as if that's believable back in the 60s/70s. He also gets into a kerfluffle and gets the tables turned on him. He's good with a gun and he's quick on his feet so of course he gets out in tact, but of all the back stories this one they could have left on the cutting room floor.
Marvin's story answers all the questions about his paranoia of being slipped LSD while working for the CIA as a Man Friday safe cracker, robber, thief.
Essentially, this reads as a companion for the film, and when it was released it was to tie fans of the movie over until RED 2 came out, which, as we all know, was a bitter disappointment compared to the first film. A short, quick, comic read that you can breeze through with relative enjoyment.
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