I might be wrong, but I think this is the third Ryan Reynolds film he’s done for Netflix. Or maybe this is just his second, with 6 Underground being his first. Which I reviewed a couple of years ago.
6 Underground – You’re never going to be our stepdad Michael bay! | Write to Reel
Miraculously, I think I gave that film a SEE IT rating. I remember it at best being just a RENT.
I keep thinking that the Hitman’s Bodyguard films are Netflix movies. Which they aren’t. They just have that feel to them.
I do know that this isn’t the first time Ryan Reynolds and The Rock… sorry, no one seems to call him that anymore. I mean Dwayne Johnson. These two shared a brief scene together in that Fast & Furious spinoff Hobbs & Shaw. There they basically played the exact same characters we get in Red Notice.
From what I hear, Red Notice might be the largest budgeted movie they’ve produced. But honestly, it doesn’t feel like it. Maybe I’d think differently if I had seen this in the theater. But it seems to have that effect on just about every made for (insert streaming service name here) I’ve seen. Aside from HBOMax that is, but that’s only because their big budget movies were always intended to be released in theaters.
So what even is a red notice? Apparently it’s something put on criminals by Interpol. One of those criminals being Ryan Reynolds who plays the snarky asshole, while Rock… I mean, Dwayne Johnson plays the uptight by the books tough guy cop character who everyone treats as dumb.
And they usually play those roles well. It’s what they are known for, they don’t really branch out. Saying that however, some of my favorite films Ryan Reynolds has been in was where he wasn’t type casted like The Nines or the very overlooked but fantastic sci-fi action film Self/less.
Dwayne Johnson on the other hand, let’s just say I’m a giant fan and I’ll pretty much see anything the guy is in no matter what generic character he is playing. Jungle Cruise for example.
Someone had to fill Arnold Schwarzenegger’s shoes, I’m glad it was him.
Gal Gadot is also in this.
Moving on.
Okay, what I will say about Gal Gadot is she isn’t acting in her native tongue, so maybe she isn’t at her best in the films I’ve seen her in. Wait, wasn’t Gal Gadot in the Fast and Furious films as well?
Her role in Red Notice is mostly to look hot and show up just in time to best our two male leads.
With the limited range she might have, I’m okay with that. She’s kind of bad in this and I don’t just mean the character she’s playing. Her acting is laughable.
But again, I don’t want to judge too harshly as I know English isn’t her first language. But it felt like she had no idea what she was doing in this movie and just showed up to read some lines and then finish the rest of her vacation.
As a whole, I didn’t mind Red Notice. I thought it was a fun action buddy heist film. And it is leaps and bounds better than Army of Thieves, the pointless boring prequel to the shitty Zack Snyder film Army of the Dead.
Army of Thieves you won’t find a review for because not only did it fall on horror month, which it wasn’t horror, but also because it was terrible and not worth my time.
I’m a fan of heist movies in general, I know some aren’t for some reason. Kind of like how some people are into spy films like the James Bond 007 movies, but I never got into them.
Heist films, especially dumb heist action adventure movies like National Treasure I have a soft spot for. And that isn’t because Nic Cage is in it. I was just using it as an example.
The plot to Red Notice centers around Cleopatra’s eggs. A completely fictional thing made up for this film where she was given these bejeweled Fabergé eggs, with two discovered and a third missing.
Ryan Reynolds plays Booth, a master thief deadset on collecting all three. Getting in his way is Dwayne Johnson’s character Agent John Hartley.
He’s a criminal profiler, working with Interpol to capture Booth. Leading the Interpol team is Agent Das, who looks about as much of an agent as Dwayne Johnson looks like a nerdy profiler.
Booth is able to get away with one of the eggs on display at a museum, but is sold out by a fellow thief known as The Bishop, who turns out to be Gal Gadot. Don’t worry, that’s not a spoiler.
Agent John Hartley and Agent Das wait for Booth at his home, arresting him on the spot.
However, The Bishop set this all up so she could slip in and steal the egg for herself and setting Agent Hartley up for it.
Das doesn’t buy his story and sends him off to prison with his new pal Booth.
Once inside, The Bishop drops by to make them an offer, tell her the whereabouts of the third missing egg and she’ll cut him in on the money once she sells it.
They refuse the offer, planning to escape and get the eggs for themselves. Booth wanting to best Bishop, while Hartley wants to clear his name.
The location of the other egg is in the possession of a violent gun dealer that likes to strangle people with his bare hands named Voce, who I swear they were calling The Voice. Mainly because of the low whisper he talks in.
They also need a sample of his voice to open the vault to to the safe room where he keeps all his treasure. Not to mention the egg everyone is after.
He just happens to be throwing a masquerade party where everyone has to wear masks, making it easy for Booth and Hartley to slip in.
Though the film is self aware of how much Dwayne Johnson stands out no matter what disguise he’s wearing.
Also at the party is The Bishop, working her own angle to get into the vault.
That angle mostly just being getting in cahoots with Voce.
Booth and Hartley are quickly captured and tied up, ready to be tortured to reveal the location of the 3rd egg.
Booth spins some lie about it still being in Egypt. Bishop leaves the two to their fate as Voce sets out to do his strangling thing he’s known for. But Booth and Hartley manage to escape, going to the real location of the 3rd egg.
To understand this, some slight backstory is needed. Booth’s father was a policeman who kept a watch, in the watch was the location of the lost egg. Ironically, Booth being the son of a cop turns out to be a thief while Hartley’s father was a crook who grew up to be a cop. This is important to take note of as it comes back later in the film.
A movie like this you should always expect a twist or two. Some double crossing to be had. For a while I was convinced that Agent Das was in on it with someone, if not Bishop maybe Booth.
But her character pretty much vanished from the film, slightly making her role in this pointless.
I won’t give the twist away, but I didn’t see it coming. I think because it seemed way too obvious and I didn’t think it would be that simple.
But it was. I’ll guess you could figure it out on the first try.
I can’t really say anymore than that or I’d end up spoiling kind of the only twist in the movie.
They do something smart however which a lot of these Netflix original films do and that’s leave it open for a sequel.
I enjoyed the film for what it was, a dumb action adventure film with an Odd Couple dynamic as our leads.
So I’m going to give it a RENT. It is slightly higher on the rating scale, like a mid SEE IT, but I feel like I don’t want to make the same mistake I gave to 6 Underground.
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