A Bruce Willis action movie used to be a huge deal, with the actor reigning as one of the genre’s premiere stars for decades. In fact, even if Die Hard had been his one and only effort before calling it quits, it would still be more than enough to secure legendary status seeing as John McTiernan’s classic is arguably the best one to ever come out of Hollywood.
However, over the last decade, Willis has resorted to a series of blatant paycheck gigs, dropping by for glorified cameos in a huge number of VOD efforts, to the extent where his actioners are now getting blasted online by disgruntled fans. The last major blockbuster he appeared in was G.I. Joe: Retaliation back in 2013, but his last good one was RED three years earlier.
Loosely based on the comic book of the same name, the hugely entertaining romp saw Willis’ retired CIA agent team up with John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman and Helen Mirren as the former elite operatives are forced to come out of retirement and unravel a conspiracy that’s put them in the firing line once again.
RED never takes itself too seriously, which is one of its greatest strengths, and the central quartet of veterans are clearly having a great time. Despite the first and second outings making a combined total of almost $250 million at the box office, though, a third installment never made it out of development hell.
But that doesn’t appear to have dissuaded fans in the slightest from revisiting the opening chapter, and RED has been a fixture in the Netflix Top 10 most-watched list for almost a week now, proving that the Bruce Willis back catalogue still appeals to a huge number of viewers.