The Ending Of Red 2 Explained

It's an action movie set-up as old as time. A guy with a violent past just wants to retire and move on with his life, but try as hard as he may, he just keeps getting pulled back into the thick of it. That's essentially the start of the 2013 action-comedy Red 2, which brought together many of the same all-star cast members from the first film to prove you're never too old to get into a good, old-fashioned fight sequence.

At the beginning of the flick, ex-CIA agent Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) is just trying to do normal things with his girlfriend Sarah (Mary Louise-Parker) until his old comrade Marvin (John Malkovich) tries to convince him bad people are still out there trying to kill them all. Marvin fakes his death, and soon, the three find themselves on a globe-trotting mission, which will put them in contact with old and new friends and foes alike with an ensemble that includes the likes of Helen Mirren, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Byung-hun Lee. 

MacGuffin bombs, car chases, and jokes about old people weren't enough to win over the hearts of critics as the sequel stands at 44 percent on the Tomatometer. Of course, you should always watch it for yourself to make up your own opinion, but if you need help deciphering the ending of Red 2, we're here for you.

To clear their names, Frank and the gang try to recapture the Nightshade bomb, which has the capability of destroying an entire city. It becomes a race against the clock as the bomb's creator, Dr. Edward Bailey (Anthony Hopkins), sets off the timer. Marvin tries his best to de-arm the bomb but to no avail. As such, Frank has to do the next best thing — he leaves it onboard the plane Bailey escapes in, detonating in the air away from civilians but killing Bailey in the process. 

With the bomb out of the way, the world's a little safer, and the team's all together. We're even left with a bit of an epilogue as Frank, Marvin, and Sarah go on a new mission to Caracas where Sarah gets a little too carried away with the guns she now has access to. 

Frank may have started the movie just wanting to enjoy the simple life, but by the end, we see why he's unable to leave his old career behind — he's just too good at it. It's not just Frank who has grown to have a stronger taste for violence by the end of the movie. Sarah was basically a damsel in distress in the first Red. But by the Red 2 ending, she's a major component of the action, and it's clear she just wants to travel the world with her boyfriend protecting cities from evildoers. 

Red 2 doesn't necessarily leave any breadcrumbs about what another film in the series would look like. The last scene shows Frank and Marvin standing off to the side while Sarah gets in on the action, which implies a follow-up would see the three of them continuing to get into high-octane hijinks. Sadly, Red 3 seems like it's been put out to pasture. 

Before Red 2 even came out in theaters, it was announced a third film was in development (via The Hollywood Reporter). However, a combination of generally negative reviews and a subpar box office performance likely sank those hopes quickly. As such, there haven't been any reports about a follow-up, and given the fact it's been eight years at this point, it seems safe to say that this movie franchise will stick with being a duology. 

It's also important to point out that there were only three issues of the Red comic books when they first came out in 2003, so it's not like there's a ton of additional material to draw from. It would've had to be an entirely new story, and perhaps Summit Entertainment just wasn't interested in going down that route. Besides, if you want to see Bruce Willis still kicking butt, it's not like there's a shortage of options available as of late as he's still very much entrenched within the action movie genre.