Film: Red Notice

 

GENRE: Action, Comedy
RATING: PG-13 for violence and some strong language
RUNTIME: 1 hour and 58 minutes
PLATFORM: Netflix
STARRING: Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool, Free Guy, Van Wilder)
Dwayne Johnson (Jungle Cruise); Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman)
DIRECTOR: Rawson Marshall Thurber (Dodgeball, Skyscraper)
WRITER: Thurber (Dodgeball, Central Intelligence, Skyscraper)
PLOT: An Interpol agent works with an art thief to catch another thief.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Just wanted a fun film to watch.

STORY STUFF: It’s a breezy action film with some fun hijinks and somewhat predictable plot twists. There’s a kind of Indiana Jones meets buddy caper mix going on which can be quite entertaining. The pace is pretty good and it’s pretty easy to follow along. Learning that the director also did the hilarious Dodgeball and the silly Skyscraper Die Hard knockoff makes a lot of sense when watching this film.

ACTING STUFF: Reynolds is always a treat to watch. He has fun one-liners throughout the film and steals the show (pun intended). The Rock has to play second fiddle and is okay but has better chemistry with Jason Statham. Gadot has some great moves and some very fun moments but didn’t add as much to the film as I wanted. I wouldn’t say that any of the three leads are stretching themselves in these roles. They’ve played them before, just not together. In that way, the film seems a little cookie cutter when there was more potential. There is a fun music artist cameo near the end that was pretty priceless.   

ARTISTIC STUFF: I actually enjoyed a lot of the action cinematography. The camera movements had a nice tempo and sweeping nature. It wasn’t the in-your-face headache inducing Red Bull cinematography of Michael Bay. Unfortunately, there are a bunch of CG stuff that is quite sad, especially the bull scene. Also, the music seemed like it wanted to go all Marvel Avengers-like for some reason.

VERDICT: Three and half stars out of five
SEE IT IF: You enjoy Reynold’s comedy and don’t want to think much
UPCOMING REVIEW: Ghostbusters: Afterlife