So the sequel to “The Losers” is here…in spirit. Just imagine it’s been 40 years since the last mission and retirement finally comes to the true blue of this country’s secret ops. That’s “RED” for you, a bunch of retired CIA and MI6 agents deemed “RED”: retired, extremely dangerous. It’s got the same feel as its DC Comics non-superhero adaptation doppelganger that came out earlier this year, and, much like “The Losers”, it keeps the action and comedy ripe from the first tactical assault to the final sniper bullet.

Helen Mirren stars as Victoria, a ‘retired, extremely dangerous’ MI-6 agent in the action-comedy, “RED”. (photo courtesy of Summit Entertainment)

Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) is a retired CIA agent with a crush on his pension costumer service agent, Sarah (star of Showtime’s “Weeds”, Mary-Louise Parker). But the days of fixing up the house and wondering what to do with his free time end abruptly when some black ops boys try to take one of the nation’s finest. Silly amateurs. They didn’t realize they were dealing with the guy who probably taught their combat instructors. Frank tracks down Sarah, fearing this unknown enemy within the CIA might go after her to get to him.

Phase Two: get the old gang together, and what a mighty fine gang it is. First on the list is Joe Matheson (Morgan Freeman), who’s been living out his post-ops days in a retirement home, hitting on the nurses. Next up, Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich), who’s holding it together incredibly well for someone who was given daily doses of LSD during his early training days. He thinks everyone’s out to get him, and for the most part, he’s right. Then we meet Russian comrade, Ivan Simanov (Brian Cox). They surely do save the best for last as we meet MI-6 retiree (who takes the odd job every now and then), Victoria (Helen Mirren). The team’s set and they’re ready to take on the CIA, led by the promising and impressionable CIA agent, William Cooper (Karl Urban). Along the way, we also run into a few more key characters (and familiar faces), CIA records keeper, Henry (Ernest Borgnine), and illegal arms salesman, Alexander Dunning (Richard Dreyfuss).

The plotline is about as original as a photocopied piece of paper, but the film’s niche — retired agents taking on villains that are the usual age of the action stars — is worth the time of day, with actors who know how to have fun with a formula film. Willis, Freeman and Malkovich are no strangers to the action movie, what with Willis’ yearly contributions, Freeman’s presence in such recent fare as 2008’s “Wanted” and Malkovich’s summer contribution as the villain in the box office disaster “Jonah Hex”. But Helen Mirren, most known for playing the queen of England twice, is hysterical as she dons a sniper rifle and other assorted machine guns. He may not have made the trailer, but action movie stable, Brian Cox (the “Bourne” films and “X2”), plays a memorable aged Ruskie who laments  that he hasn’t killed someone in five years, but at least the love of his life shot him three times in the chest when she could’ve aimed for the head — now that’s true love.

“RED” functions through a mix of humor, great fights and unexpected nostalgia. There’s something so familiar about old action stars reminiscing about their heydays. But unlike “Live Free or Die Hard” or “Lethal Weapon 4”, our nostalgic connection to these heroes doesn’t come from anything in the film but our Hollywood memory of their past cinematic success (and other actors for that matter as well). “The Expendables” showed us last month that the price of the action film might be an overuse of Botox, turning the idea of accepting old age into something with more hormone treatment than grace. “RED” is the Stallone corrective, showing us that to remain action-movie-awesome doesn’t require the love of someone half your age or airbrushing away the past on your face. In fact, Freeman, 73, plays a character seven years older (Take that “Glee”, casting 24-year-olds as 16-year-olds), and there are few actors cooler than Freeman.

Action movies like these are a lovable breed in short supply. “RED” doesn’t bother with excessive violence or sensational scenes where a tank plummets from the sky, slowing its momentum by firing a cannon straight down (thank you “A-Team”); it focuses on combat scenes, strategic plans and character chemistry. Don’t bother attaching any political meaning to the film, just laugh at the dialogue and occasionally applaud some rather intense action scenes that know when to stop and let us enjoy the great actors on screen.