Red Notice

One of this year's most expensive Netflix movies is a decent genre one-off, but given the budget and the cast, I was expecting a bigger load of excitement. I was kind of hoping for something in the vein of 6 Underground, but the PG-13 rating alone kind of bugged me. It's a bit of a variation on Indiana Jones, James Bond and Ocean’s Eleven, but in neither can the film hold a candle to those franchises. As expected, Red Notice is an entertaining, expensive and nicely made film, with The Rock, Gal Gadot and Ryan Reynolds doing their thing again, and a few of the jokes are good. Unfortunately, the action is a disappointment, there isn't a single memorable action scene and the finale is delivered in a more intimate than monumental way, which is a big downside. There is one unexpected twist that’s quite good, and the heist antics aren't bad, but that's not enough for me. The two hours are bearable, and Red Notice is certainly worth recommending, but it should and could have been more consistent and wilder. Story 3/5, Action 3/5, Humor 3/5, Violence 0/5, Fun 4/5 Music 4/5, Visuals 4/5, Atmosphere 2/5, Suspense 2/5, Emotion 3/5, Actors 4/5. 6/10. (11/13/2021)

What a weird movie. There wasn’t a hint of originality, a trio of not-quite-Shakespearean actors were cast in the lead roles, and the script and the way it was handled were quite unimpressive. Forty minutes into the movie, I was already bored, checking my watch every few minutes to see if it was going to be over soon. Gal Gadot may have a nice figure, but her acting is comparable to that of a Ukrainian clothes hanger, Ryan Reynolds' contribution was that he spent the entire movie rambling on and on (to a point when I started secretly hoping that his character would get killed off), and Dwayne Johnson is just The Rock. It was a very long two hours and I'm absolutely certain I won't watch it ever again. (01/07/2022)

Netflix calculated how to make a hit: take a lot of money, put in famous faces, come up with an uncomplicated story, and cram something in there for everyone, ideally in a way that the result won't turn anyone off, regardless of age or whether they want action, adventure, humor, exotic locations, or basically anything. The result is Red Notice. Dwayne Johnson scowls and occasionally punches someone, Ryan Reynolds talks and pisses Johnson off, and Gal Gadot looks good while sadly confirming that her acting talent is more suited for photos or silent films. And overall? Overall, it doesn't offend, it doesn't surprise, it passes pleasantly in the first half and drags in the second, and when there's a problem somewhere, Netflix throws a few million dollars at it and routinist Rawson Marshall Thurbert pulls it all together into something that's about two hours long, with a beginning, middle and end, and everyone will watch it anyway because we're just curious about the actors, right? And then we all forget about it in an hour. I get what Netflix was going for and I respect that they did it, but I'm certainly not going to settle for this uninteresting routine and I'm not going to praise it. It's like it was all made by a machine that figured out what people probably want to see and served it up to them. (11/17/2021)

Red Notice is an insanely unoriginal and generic, annoyingly unobjectionable flick with a screenplay like a feature-length Tom and Jerry... playing with twists like The Usual Suspects. In the words of Reynolds, “What the fuck?!” His lines are the only bright moments in the film. Even Jungle Cruise was more imaginative and enchanting. (11/13/2021)

Reynolds is playing Reynolds as usual, The Rock is playing The Rock as usual, and Gadot isn’t acting at all (as usual). A fun and snappy, but pitifully unimaginative film (the budget paid for the central three actors, and there was clearly no money left for special effects, so it looks like a run-of-the-mill B-movie). In three days, I will have no memory of seeing the film. It will do as a way to pass a Saturday night. The lower your expectations, the more you'll enjoy it. (11/13/2021)