Red Notice

This action comedy is fun and frothy, if ultimately forgettable. Getting by on the charisma of its stars, their inoffensive comedy bickering, and some by-the-numbers action sequences, this is nothing special, but it’s enjoyable enough for what it is.

Premise: When FBI profiler John Hartley (Dwayne Johnson) tracks renowned art thief Nolan Booth (Ryan Reynolds) to a museum heist in Rome, they soon discover that the criminal mastermind known only as The Bishop (Gal Gadot) is one step ahead of them both.

Review:

The opening sequence of Red Notice shows how three bejewelled eggs that were given to Cleopatra by Mark Antony were lost for two thousand years, until two of the three were discovered a century ago, leaving only the third missing. This prologue sets the tone for how ridiculous the film’s MacGuffin is, and that’s even before you get to the part where viewers learn that the reason why all of the world’s art thieves are after the eggs is that an Egyptian billionaire is offering an eyewatering reward of $300m to anyone who can procure all three eggs in time for his daughter’s wedding.

My point is, Red Notice is not a film that takes itself seriously, nor should it be taken seriously. It’s meant to be a bit of light-hearted entertainment, and it’s clear that the plot is a by-the-numbers, focus-group-produced vehicle designed to deliver a string of comedy beats and action set-pieces. Not that there’s anything wrong with that – some of my favourite “guilty pleasure” movies have a paper-thin plot to string together their set-pieces. But Red Notice’s biggest crime is arguably that its action sequences aren’t that memorable, and its comedic moments aren’t that laugh-out-loud funny.

“…arguably the most charismatic cast list since the ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ films...”

That said, the film overall is an enjoyable couple of hours, and it never drags. That’s probably in no small part due to the surplus of charisma provided by Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot – arguably the most charismatic cast list since the Ocean’s Eleven films. Even with Johnson and Reynolds playing variations on their usual architypes, it’s still a lot of fun spending time with their characters, and while Gal Gadot’s character may be underwritten, she’s clearly having a whale of a time playing a larger-than-life villainous character for a change.

The action sequences are decent enough, although none of them really stand out or are likely to stick with you after the film ends. An early action sequence involving Nolan Booth’s (Ryan Reynolds) parkour-style escape over some scaffolding is arguably the action highlight of the film, and at other times, the action is intentionally (and effectively) sacrificed for the comedy (for example, during a car chase sequence involving Dwayne Johnson’s John Hartley) – but at other times, the action sequences are all fairly unmemorable.

“…the movie equivalent of junk food…”

Similarly, there aren’t many memorable comedy moments, although Ryan Reynolds can always be relied on for a couple of standout quips and one-liners, and Gal Gadot’s OTT performance is fun, if not funny per se. But the movie as a whole is amusing enough, and there is a cameo at the end that did make me chuckle.

But really, Red Notice is the movie equivalent of junk food – yes, it’s overly processed, full of empty calories, and of no nutritional value, but it has its time and its place, and sometimes it’s just what you’re craving. Red Notice certainly has its flaws, and there’s nothing particularly special or memorable about it, but equally, there’s nothing particularly wrong or bad about it either. The stars are fun to watch, the plot takes them on a globetrotting adventure full of double-crosses and shifting alliances, and the action and comedy are enough to keep the film motoring along for its 2-hour runtime.