There are a number of reasons to be excited for 'Red 2' even if the first film was slightly above average. For one, it's being directed by Dean Parsoit, who helmed 'Galaxy Quest,' a film that has done nothing but get better by the day. For another, they've just added David Thewlis to the cast.

He will be joining returning cast members Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman and John Malkovich, with Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Byung-hun Lee new to the franchise. This news comes from Variety, and as this is a movie about former assassins, we'd peg him as either a kindly old British agent, or one of the bad guys.

Thewlis got his big break in Mike Leigh's 'Naked' which won him a best acting prize at Cannes in 1993, and it's the sort of performance that deserves every accolade that can be thrown at it. The only comparison in recent years is Daniel Day-Lewis in 'There Will Be Blood,' he's that good in the film. Of course, many know him now for his turn as Remus Lupin in the 'Harry Potter' franchise, where he played one of the nicest people in the series. Thewlis was most recently seen playing an evil landlord in Steven Spielberg's 'War Horse.'

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