A pure formula film that nods to the classic heist and adventure movies without adding anything new. It’s kind of sad to see The Rock and Gal Gadot sleepwalking through scenes and while Ryan Reynolds’ motormouth schtick can be entertaining here, you can’t build an entire film around his persona.
Three of the biggest global superstars come together in Netflix’s biggest production to date. Dwayne Johnson stars as an FBI profile tracking down Ryan Reynolds, one of the most wanted art thieves in the world. Meanwhile, Gal Gadot features as the mysterious Bishop who is a legendary art thief, considered a myth created by law enforcement officers to hide their incompetence.
Unfortunately, rather than gelling well together, the three superstars get in each other’s way consistently. Ryan Reynolds does deliver some good laughs with his witty dialogues in the first half, but the jokes wear thin in the second half and completely fizzle out by the climax. Whatever they were trying to construct between him and Johnson fall apart due to poor, one-dimensional dialogues given for the Rock’s character and a lack of imagination with regards to physical comedy.
Buddy-cop movies like Hobbs & Shaw worked primarily because the characters had well-written back-stories that the audience can buy into, backed up with witty writing and well-thought-out and expansive physical comedy. Unfortunately, Red Notice falters on all three fronts. The character backstories and motivations are flat and uninventive and make only a superficial impact on the audience.
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The plot is even more laughable as it completely lacks the engaging factor. That is because there is literally no cost. The guys running after our characters are members of their own team which means that we know nobody would die. There is no tension. There are no life or death situations. In action movies, those things are imperative but this film lacks it completely.
And overall, that is the true failure of this film. It completely fails to catch the audience by surprise at any moment in its tedious runtime. It is a travesty that three of the biggest names in action were brought together only to achieve such disastrous results. Not recommended!
K- Score: 38%
STW: 5/30, D: 7/25, C: 5/8, E: 2/5, PVD: 8/12, A: 5/10, S: 6/10
