Whilst Kitten was off on a Girl Scout outing, Margie and I, the afternoon free, went off and watched RED (official site).
It was, as I tweeted, a splended Bruce Willis action adventure spy comedy political violent PG-13 thriller. Loads of fun, Margie enjoyed it, etc. Willis character is fun, as are the supporting cast, and the whole thing, while quite violent (in effect, if not in the blood-and-guts that might misguidedly warrant an R rating), is still a mildly iconoclastic romp.
Now, I knew the movie was based on the Warren Ellis comic book mini-series. And I said, as I watched it, “Yeah, I’m sure this is homogenized more than a bit, but I can see the elements that probably tie back to Ellis, and I’m pretty sure I know what the comic was like.”
Then, this evening, I read the graphic novel that “inspired” the movie, and …
Well, I was wrong. I can see the connection, but, honestly, not only was the movie (a) more entertaining, (b) of longer duration, and (c) less expensive, but (d) I’d recommend, in lieu, the TPB collections of The Losers for something more akin to the themes Ellis introduces then just tosses off in this 3-issue mini-series (half the TPB is the script + rough graphics of the first issue).
The comic series isn’t bad, but it’s a brief over-the-top blip vs. the movie — which is, honestly, a reverse of the usual way these things work.