Red Critical Response Essay

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Chris Tischner Rebecca Peters Hum-3321 Web Cohort 12 Critical Response Essay Red: A Critical Analysis With the perennial all-star line-up that makes up this 2010 Action/Thriller/Comedy, the film Red delivers on more than one level and especially from a critical analysis standpoint. Long-time celebrated actors and household names like Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, and John Malkovich lead the way as director Robert Schwentke brings this popular novel to life with mostly always intriguingly shot scenes, concise lighting, and an appropriately balanced selection of sounds. In the opening scene, main character Frank Moses wakes up alone and still seemingly tired. The low light appears to be dominant as one side of his face is extremely illuminated while the other is dark and concealed along with the rest of the background of the frame. Following almost immediately after, the next shot displays lighting in which star-lighting appears to radiate from Mr. Moses fading at the edges (Belton Ch. 3). In addition, a lot of natural daylight seems to be used prevalently in the first opening minutes of the film that give director Schwentke a very realistic and unrefined set of sequence (BEF.pdf). Once character Sarah Ross is introduced to us while Mr. Moses is talking to her on the phone, the 180 degree rule is clearly observed when the camera moves from showing her in her office in Kansas, MO to showing Mr. Moses where he is in his home. Furthermore, when Mr. Moses is looking at his mail in the morning, a high camera angle is used to show the front of his letters and other documents including the pension check he tears up in order to justify calling Ms. Ross (Belton Ch. 3). Interestingly enough, once the different scenes change from his house to the opening scene in Kansas City, a high camera angle is again used to show a city intersection before Ms. Ross is dropped

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