Red Notice: Movie Review

 It's quite common for movies to be made with no plot, a cast of popular actors with loyal fanbases and a big CGI budget. Red Notice is one of those movies.

Netflix has been churning out an increasing number of platform-exclusive movies, but it's now harder to find good ones. When they dropped the first trailer for this action-flick starring Ryan Reynolds and Dwayne Johnson, I knew I was going to watch it as a fan of the Canadian funnyman. They also showed Gal Gadot as a key character to onboard a slew of horny teens as well.

The movie plot is a treasure hunt for an Egyptian artefact, a bejewelled golden egg and part of a set of three, known as Cleopatra's eggs. It explains off the bat that the term Red Notice is the highest wanted level in Interpol, which is a sort of global police agency. The movie then introduces us to a generically-sassy boss lady Inspector Das, played by Ritu Arya, who's chasing one of the best art thieves in the world. She enters the scene accompanied by FBI profiler, John Hartley (Dwayne Johnson), who happens to be a muscular and brainy fellow that can detect a fake with one raised eyebrow glance. That introduces us to the thief: Nolan Booth (Ryan Reynolds). There's an opening chase sequence that introduces us to the strengths of both characters. We are also informed early doors of a third party known as the Bishop, who's Nolan's rival and leaks his whereabouts to Interpol.

Spoilers for the main plot: Hartley catches Booth, but a person working for the Bishop steals the egg from under Interpol's nose. This villain then sets up Hartley as a possible associate of Booth and is sent to join him in a remote East-European prison until trial. Within the first 30 minutes, we're treated to a list of cringe police quips from Arya, the customary fall through a giant glass window with Johnson making the landing with little to no cushioning, and a hilarious running commentary from Reynolds. While they're in prison, they finally meet The Bishop in person, and it's Gal Gadot! Unfortunately, Wonder Woman is unable to carry this character of a bubbly criminal mastermind who also has a sense of humour. The jokes weren't great and her awkward delivery of the punchlines left me reeling with "Meh". She's still stunning to look at though so I don't mind her screen time and waiting for Reynolds to save the scene.

We're then introduced to the rest of the plot guidelines. While Booth and  Hartleyget acquainted in prison, the thief explains why the two thieves are so insistent on stealing Cleopatra's Easter hunt: whoever can acquire all three eggs gets a prize reward from an Egyptian billionaire who wants them as a wedding gift for his daughter. Now we have incentive and a time constraint. Nolan wants to get back at the Bishop to reclaim his title as the best thief while John wants to clear his name of the false accusations.

What follows is a melody of plot stereotypes and you could turn it into a drinking game as well to make the viewing experience more exciting. Prison escape, heist-gone-wrong, and a hidden treasure bunker to name a few. The theme doesn't change with Dwayne doing a lot of physical carnage with a random intelligent moment once he remembers what his character is meant to be, Reynolds being Deadpool but without the guns, and Gadot being a chatty trickster with no comedic timing. The movie has chases, fight scenes and occasionally some clever tech that thieves are imagined to be using in this day and age. Make sure you catch all the subtle jabs and references from Reynolds throughout the movie, they're *chef's kiss* lovely.

Red Notice is written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, who seems to have been a regular movie partner for the Rock in recent years. He's also the guy who gave us Central Intelligence and the Dodgeball comedy starring Ben Stiller so it makes sense that one shouldn't expect anything "clever" in his movies. Thurber seems to have a knack for a specific type of storytelling which includes comical set-ups and explosive action. If that's all you're looking for to pass two hours of your free time, 'Red Notice' offers just enough entertainment for the purpose.

Like other recent Netflix productions, this movie is set up with the potential of sequels using the same lead characters. It's a bit like a mediocre comic book story. There's a market for it, and with the Netflix service, they don't have to worry about a poor box office turnout. The fact that there was potential for a much better movie within the same plotline,  reveals how disappointing the final product truly was.

I'd rate 'Red Notice' at 5 out of 10 kinder-eggs, with four of them being earned by Ryan Reynolds alone.

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