Red Notice (D+ or 1.5/4 stars)
The globe-trotting, comedy/adventure, 'Red Notice' (directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, Skyscraper) is not a complete waste of time, but it's not good & it wastes the talents of its trio of stars. Centuries ago, Marcus Antonius of Rome had 3 exquisite art eggs created for Queen Cleopatra. 2 of them were found in the early 1900s, with 1 ending up in the possession of international arms dealer, Sotto Voce (Chris Diamantopoulos), the 2nd now held at an art museum in Rome, & the 3rd ... is missing. FBI profiler John Hartley (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson), who specializes in art theft, is positive that intrepid art thief Nolan Booth (Ryan Reynolds) is targeting the one in the museum. And so, he shows up there with Interpol agent Urvashi Das (Ritu Arya).
Though snarky Nolan evades them, John & a skeptical Urvashi catch him {fun scene in the tropics}. However, the subsequent theft of that egg seems to implicate John as the actual suspect! That results in him & Nolan ending up as cellmates {eye roll!} in a black ops prison located in icy Russia. There, they learn that the world's #1 art thief, The Bishop (Gal Gadot), covets all 3 bejeweled eggs for her client, an Egyptian billionaire businessman who wants them for his daughter's upcoming wedding. With John wanting to clear his name & catch The Bishop, and Nolan wanting to obtain those eggs anyway ... the two men form an unlikely alliance to achieve their very different {or are they?? moustache twirl} goals. Twists & turns ensue.
'Red Notice' IS watchable comfort food, but writer/director Thurber is not able to create interesting characters, write proper dialogue, or steer the ridiculous plot in a propulsive way. I know the aim was probably to create a franchise, here ... but this is no Ocean's Eleven. And it doesn't belong in the same breath as other like films: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Gladiator or Sullivan's Travels. The overall result is bland, repetitive, dumb and, well, boring. I even loathed a surprise musician cameo late in the game; felt like the filmmakers were grasping at straws or fulfilling a favor of some sort.
We've seen Dwayne Johnson do this kind of role before. Lazy. We've seen Ryan Reynolds do this kind of role in his sleep. Lazy. And I say that having thoroughly enjoyed him in this summer's Free Guy. We've seen Gal Gadot in this kind of alluring sexpot role. I reallllly hope she's not a one-trick pony type of actress. Reportedly, Johnson, Reynolds & Gadot received $20 mill each out of Netflix's $200 (!) mill budget. 200!? For THIS? Hell, exotic locales such as Italy, Bali, Egypt, & South America were mostly CGI-ed from studios in Atlanta, Georgia -- I mean, COME ON. This nearly 2 hour long romp is too derivative of far superior predecessors. And our trio of stars are simply not able to overcome to tepid directorial/writing deficiencies.
Though snarky Nolan evades them, John & a skeptical Urvashi catch him {fun scene in the tropics}. However, the subsequent theft of that egg seems to implicate John as the actual suspect! That results in him & Nolan ending up as cellmates {eye roll!} in a black ops prison located in icy Russia. There, they learn that the world's #1 art thief, The Bishop (Gal Gadot), covets all 3 bejeweled eggs for her client, an Egyptian billionaire businessman who wants them for his daughter's upcoming wedding. With John wanting to clear his name & catch The Bishop, and Nolan wanting to obtain those eggs anyway ... the two men form an unlikely alliance to achieve their very different {or are they?? moustache twirl} goals. Twists & turns ensue.
'Red Notice' IS watchable comfort food, but writer/director Thurber is not able to create interesting characters, write proper dialogue, or steer the ridiculous plot in a propulsive way. I know the aim was probably to create a franchise, here ... but this is no Ocean's Eleven. And it doesn't belong in the same breath as other like films: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Gladiator or Sullivan's Travels. The overall result is bland, repetitive, dumb and, well, boring. I even loathed a surprise musician cameo late in the game; felt like the filmmakers were grasping at straws or fulfilling a favor of some sort.
We've seen Dwayne Johnson do this kind of role before. Lazy. We've seen Ryan Reynolds do this kind of role in his sleep. Lazy. And I say that having thoroughly enjoyed him in this summer's Free Guy. We've seen Gal Gadot in this kind of alluring sexpot role. I reallllly hope she's not a one-trick pony type of actress. Reportedly, Johnson, Reynolds & Gadot received $20 mill each out of Netflix's $200 (!) mill budget. 200!? For THIS? Hell, exotic locales such as Italy, Bali, Egypt, & South America were mostly CGI-ed from studios in Atlanta, Georgia -- I mean, COME ON. This nearly 2 hour long romp is too derivative of far superior predecessors. And our trio of stars are simply not able to overcome to tepid directorial/writing deficiencies.