Red Notice

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)

A TV B-movie with A-movie actors, a promising theme, a weak screenplay and the oh-so-mediocre Rawson Marshall Thurber in the director’s chair. Red Notice could be great a modern take on Indy (they even have Swastikas) and the search for Cleopatra’s golden eggs, if it weren’t for lots of nonsense and ridiculous (even if unexpected) twists. The Rock, Gadot and Ryan Reynold all act how they always act and if this had had more inventive (better filmed) action and if it hadn’t been filmed in a studio, it could have been a wonderful guilty pleasure, but this way it is only just an entertaining snack. P.S.: Not even Jablonsky was trying... (11/17/2021)

Red Notice didn't entice me due to the likeable cast, with the Gadot-Johnson-Reynolds trio proving themselves in their roles. Plot-wise, it is basically a rehash of older films and aside from a minor plot twist, which was predictable from a certain point on, it doesn't have much to surprise. Some scenes feel too forced – lately filmmakers feel the need to put unnecessary artificial animals in their films – and you could talk at length about how Red Notice disregards the laws of physics, but whatever, a film like this should be taken with a grain of salt. The film could have easily been a quarter of an hour shorter, but it still managed to keep me interested, tense and even entertained at times (thanks mainly to Reynolds). (01/14/2022)

Red Notice is a pure genre film for sure. Netflix didn't take any chances and simply offered a trio of action movie veterans another (joint) project. It follows a basic pattern, Reynolds has plenty of one-liners, Gadot is sexy, and Johnson uses his muscles. I don't think anyone will be surprised if more sequels are made. We also get the nice pairing of Gadot and Cleopatra, another of which we got in Death on the Nile, and next year she'll hopefully be playing her in a really no-frills big budget narrative film. (04/18/2022)

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)