Red [2008]

I'll be honest, I don't read - but Jack Ketchum is by far my favourite author.  His recent adaptations of The Girl Next Door in 2007 and The Lost in 2005 were both incredible.  And Red is no exception.

Led by a heartless hot-tempered punk, a group of young no-good-doers attempt to rob an old man harmlessly fishing on a riverbank.  When the old man has little to offer, the ring leader shoots and kills his (part-of-the) family dog.  Justice is sought, revenge is taken, but will balance be restored?

Red is a mesmerizing, riveting, and engrossing thriller.  Produced and starring brilliant character actor Brian Cox, is both captivating and self-masturbatory.  Kind of celebration of one's own ego and his exemplary evidence to prove it...but don't let that dissuade you.  It's well earned and completely justified.  So much so in fact that I can't think of a single actor could have pulled it off.  The rest of the cast is almost equally incredible.  Noel Fisher as our antagonist and Kyle Gallner are fantastic.  

Red's performances are only outshined by Ketchum's eerily real story and Stephen Susco's screenplay.  The entire span of the film where practically nothing happens until the final scenes is almost completely unnoticeable and it's simplicity and effectiveness can't be match by any recent like film.

10/10