Red Notice 2021 is an Action Comedy Crime film by Rawson Marshall Thurber. The film is rated PG-13 and it is an hour and 58 minutes.
let’s check if it’s worth a watch.
Red Notice Review
Red Notice is written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber. It stars Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, and Gal Gadot.
An FBI profiler is forced to partner with the world’s greatest art thief. In order to capture the world’s Most wanted Art Thief, which then begins a globetrotting game of cat and mouse.
So we have Dwayne Johnson playing FBI profiler John Hartley, Ryan Reynolds playing the top art thief Nolan Booth, and then Gal Gadot as the most wanted art thief, The Bishop.
The story centers around three decorative eggs that were supposedly gifted to Cleopatra by Mark Antony. We learned this right from the very beginning of the movie, and they’re almost priceless, and not all of them have been found, which makes these the ideal target for the art thieves.
Now, because of the premise for the Hunt for the eggs, the film feels a little like it came out of the National Treasure or Indiana Jones universe.
Ryan Reynolds is surprisingly less in this movie. I mean, while there is some of his signature sly sarcasm and witty retorts, he feels restrained.
I anticipated much more of the banter and comebacks than we end up getting. Don’t get me wrong. I mean, they’re still present. Just to what feels like a lesser degree.
And in case you’re wondering, yes, there is aviation Gin product placement in this because it wouldn’t be a Ryan Reynolds production or movie without it.
Dwayne Johnson is fun, but he’s reserved. Also, you also get some great funny and sarcastic moments to share with Reynolds, and some are just dry responses to situations that in turn become funny.
Now, Gal Gadot is sultry and mysterious, but she doesn’t get many opportunities to really break out of her one-dimensional role.
She can kick butt, which is fun to see, but that’s not new since we’ve already seen her do that in Wonder Woman. I liked her in this movie, but she just feels restrained.
And actually, that’s how all of them feel. They all are holding back, not fully embracing all of the ridiculous fun that the movie really should be embracing.
And this movie is a lot. I mean, when I mentioned Globetrotting, it really does do that. We go from Italy to Bali to like a Russian gulag to Spain and then the jungle. And I think there’s a couple of other spots along the way.
The story takes us to many places, and sometimes it uses extreme plot conveniences to get our characters from one area to the other.
I mean how did two internationally wanted people get from Spain to the jungle? You know by a quick jump cut transition? How else would you do it?
I never got the sense with this that the story knew exactly what it wanted to be. There are elements of buddy cop, comedy, action-adventure, mystery, and even some romance.
I know these don’t have to be mutually exclusive, but the story didn’t know where to hold its main focus, even if it included aspects of those other genres.
Now, as I mentioned, sometimes the story is like Indiana Jones or National Treasure. Other times it’s like The Pink Panther or Ocean’s Eleven, and then sometimes it’s just a straight-up action film.
The chemistry between Reynolds and Johnson didn’t always click fully either, which I thought was surprising. I mean, they’re both very charismatic and funny, and they do have some great banter back and forth. But I didn’t always buy the Antagonism or the Camaraderie.
Because of the numerous location changes combined with the lackluster chemistry, The movie felt way longer than it actually is.
I mean, I checked my watch at one point, believing we’d cross the two-hour Mark with still quite a bit to go, but the entire movie is less than 2 hours, so they are really packing in a ton, but also making me feel that progress.
I know it sounds like I’m completely down on the movie, but I’m not. I mean, there are plenty of things to have fun with.
The action really works when it’s present, and there are chase sequences both on foot and in vehicles that are exciting and adrenaline-fueled.
Not every single one of them is filmed and edited awesomely. I mean, there’s one scene in particular that involves a lot of jumping around some scaffolding, and it’s chaotic and a bit hard to discern all of what’s going on.
I think this is especially noticeable because we saw this done with Shang Chi, and it was phenomenally executed. So when something similar is repeated and it’s not nearly as good, that disparity is pretty obvious.
But there are other proper action sequences that are done well and they look great. They had a lot of thrills, and I found them to be really engaging.
There’s one that involves tunnels and cars, and it was chaotically fun, and it looked great. The cloak and dagger can be entertaining, too.
There’s a particular sequence where Johnson and Reynolds have to get into a secure location, and there are more than a few moments within this that I was holding my breath.
I mean, just on that off chance that I could make them mess up or give away their location. It was fun and done well, even if it was a little drawn out.
And something else that I did enjoy and it was subtle, which I think made it even better was that at times the movie is self-aware.
Reynolds will make some small comments that draw attention to the fact that the characters understand they’re inside of a film. So overall Red Notice is a mixed bag of effectiveness. A lot of the action works, and some of the comedy can cause chuckles.
But while the story is simple to follow, it feels like it throws in too many complications for its own good and comes across that they wanted to pack more into it than was effective.
And this leads to a story that feels much longer than it actually is. I love each of the lead actors, but here they feel reserved or restrained, not allowed to fully engage in their characters.
I really wanted to like this more and I had been excited to check it out. Unfortunately, though, there was potential for this to be a sweeping action-adventure comedy, but it just wasn’t realized.
So all in all, it’s just okay. There’s no sex, brief nudity, a lot of profanity, and a bunch of violence.
I am going to give Red Notice a C.
What’s your favorite movie with one of the stars of this? Let me know in the comments below. Guys, I hope you have enjoyed this review, See you next time.
Red Notice Movie Trailer
Check out the trailer of the new Action Comedy Crime film; Red Notice (2021). The film follows an Interpol agent who tracks the world’s most wanted art thief.
