Not to be confused with the 2010 hit with Bruce Willis, this film is about a man, Brian Cox, a widower who's best friend is his 14 yeare old dog named Red. One day while fishing, three kids run into Cox and his pooch, try and rob him, when he doesn't have his wallet on him, one of the kids blows Red's head off with a shotgun. Now since this film is directed by Lucky McKee and based on a novel by Jack Ketchum, who made "The Woman" together(a real gross out freak show), I thought this was gonna be some sadistic film where the old man goes on a Revenge spree and kill these kids, but he does not. This is a very thoughtful film, a drama, where all the old man wants is for the kids to fess up to what they did and take some responsibilities, and one of the kids even feels the same way. he is out for justice for his beloved friend, but not bloodshed, though it does end in bloodshed, just not the way you think.

What make's the film great is a performance by Brian Cox, probably his best and that is saying a lot, he is in almost every scene and never steps on the wrong note. the scene where he explains what happened to his wife is truley heart breaking, it's a long scene in which the camera mostly focuses on him. If this film made any kind of money i couldn't see how he couldn't get an oscar nomination, he's that good.

It was also nice to see Robert Englund in a normal non freak show kinda role, he only has two scenes but he is very good in both of them.

This is a teriffic low budget film, and if you are a dog lover it might even mean more to you. This was first class all the way.

Hey Jordan,

Good call, this film was a total surprise to me.
I went into it blind, just based on the casting of Brian Cox.
I'll pretty much watch anything he's in.
He did another indie flick with the Paul Dano from "There Will Be Blood".
It's called "The Good Heart", you may want to check that one out.

"Red" is a slow burn character centric drama about making things right.
I like pretty much everything about it from start to finish.

BTW, don't give Lucky McKee too much credit on this one.
He and his starlet, Angela Bettis, were fired a couple weeks into production.
I read an interview with Stephen Susco that went into details.
Basically, McKee was taking it a sensationalistic direction the producers didn't like.

I think one of the many strengths of Red is its languid pace.
Justice simmers in this rustic tale and no one gets away scott free.
A man that's clearly made mistakes with his life tries to undo someone else's.
It's a tale filled with subtext and long stares, what a treat of a film.

E.D.

Hey Brett, it's Jordan by the way :P but I  get called Justin a lot, even Jason sometimes, still better than some of the names I been called in the past.  ;D

I'm glad someone else has seen this flick, kinda sad that this totally disappeared the public eye, it is truley a teriffic little no budget film that doesn't look cheap at all.

I'm currios what kinda film Lucky wanted to make of it, concidering the other films I have seen of his probably some far out gross out geek show.

I  also noticed that Brian Cox is in both movies called Red, and he's good in both!  :)

Quoted from The boy who could fly Hey Brett, it's Jordan by the way :P but I  get called Justin a lot, even Jason sometimes, still better than some of the names I been called in the past.  ;D

Yikes! My bad. Fixed.
My headset is ghetto and I was drinking liberally for that podcast. ;D
At least I got the first and last letter right.

E.D.