Special Agent John Hartley (Dwayne Johnson) tracks the second-best art thief in the world, Nolan Booth (Ryan Reynolds), to Rome, where he plans to steal a priceless Egyptian egg, once held by Cleopatra. Saving the day, thanks to an anonymous tip from the mysterious Bishop (????), it isn’t long before the egg still goes missing, and fingers are pointed square at Hartley, landing him in prison alongside Booth. Realising they have both been set up by the Bishop (I’m still not spoiling the alias, but check the poster), Hartley and Booth decide their best bet is to team up; by following a treasure hunt for all three of Cleopatra’s eggs, where Hartley might be able to clear his name by capturing that elusive Bishop (okay, fine, it’s Gal Gadot. Happy?). Written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, we get Red Notice; an unlikely-buddy movie starring three of the hottest names in today’s blockbuster cinema.
I enjoyed the chemistry between Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds, which is probably the best reason to watch this movie. Johnson provides the straight-guy, allowing Reynolds to make a few jokes at his expense – like, why is he wearing that hairnet in the prison kitchen considering he’s completely bald? I’d say Reynolds hasn’t put the heart into defining Nolan as much as he did for his character in Free Guy, but there’s still enough Ryan-Reynolds-trademark zingers to provide some hearty chuckles; and even though this is like, the third Reynolds’ movie I’ve written about in my last eight reviews, I’m still into it. From a Johnson perspective, I do think this straight-guy role is a better fit for him, if only comparing it to Jungle Cruise from earlier this year – I got a little giggle at the waterfall scene, where it looks as if Johnson’s steamboat captain from Disney’s fantasy tale is still wrapping up his climax from the last movie; the Rock could’ve maximised his time filming both movie’s endings at the same location, I wouldn’t know. As for Gal Gadot, she just seems too lovely to be convincing as any sort’ve ruthless murderer. Some of her scenes could be clippings off the cutting room floor, of Diana Prince from Wonder Woman or Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, literally. Her smile is infectious, and it seems like Gadot is completely at ease in Red Notice, living her best life.
It’s all completely fantastical, but Red Notice isn’t trying to be anything else. Bloody Interpol and the Bishop show up wherever and whenever, as if traveling around the entire globe is the same as popping in to see the neighbours. The Bishop is the type of villain that, if you think you see what she’s doing, then she sees that you see what she’s doing – and if you think you see that she sees that you see what she’s doing, then she sees that you see that she sees that you see what she’s doing; the Bishop is ‘always unfathomably five or six steps ahead’, is all I could have written instead, but it was fun making you read this sentence 😏 Naturally, I appreciated Nolan Booth’s several cheeky offerings of meta-humour too; calling the mansion guards ‘featured extras’, and stating that the third egg is probably in a box labelled ‘MacGuffin’. And, (with another attempt of my own on the subject), the dingiest Russian prisons in the world seriously have to rework their security systems, don’t they? These two dudes escape in this movie, just after the Red Guardian celebrates a similar success back in Black Widow earlier this year 😮 Not a good time to be a Russian prison guard in cinema this year, no no no. I’d expect an internal investigation.
I may have enjoyed Red Notice much less if I had to pay for it, but getting it pumped directly into my home for free via streaming, I found this movie to be a sweetly easy way to pass the time away. I may have to brush up on my Indiana Jones’, and National Treasure’s though, because I don’t really have a sturdy frame of reference to draw upon when it comes to archaeological action-adventures. But, my adolescent self, did watch enough Wild Things on loop to learn how to enjoy a good game of bait-and-switch, even if I’m sure it wasn’t the real reason I was watching it 😍 *boobies*. There’re probably better examples for con-artistry in movies, but Wild Things; that’s what I’ve got. With Red Notice back in mind, even while I was waiting for Hartley and the Bishop to eventually reveal themselves as partners, in on a long-con together to retrieve all three eggs, it didn’t make the payoff any less satisfying when it turned out to be true. Then, they get their way and deliver the eggs to the father of the bride, only for the priceless present to be overshadowed in seconds, by the best reveal of the movie; a funny cameo by Ed Sheeran. Isn’t that always the way; you think you’ve given someone the most meaningful gift in the world and they pass it over to make googly-eyes with a pop singer? That’s a real crime.
3.0
Leave a Reply