Directed By Rawson Marshall Thurber

Starring – Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot, Ryan Reynolds

The Plot – When an Interpol-issued Red Notice the highest level warrant to hunt and capture the world’s most wanted goes out, the FBI’s top profiler John Hartley (Johnson) is on the case. His global pursuit finds him smack dab in the middle of a daring heist where he’s forced to partner with the world’s greatest art thief Nolan Booth (Reynolds) in order to catch the world’s most wanted art thief, “The Bishop” (Gadot). The high-flying adventure that ensues takes the trio around the world, across the dance floor, trapped in a secluded prison, into the jungle and, worst of all for them, constantly into each other’s company.

Rated PG-13 for violence and action, some sexual references, and strong adult language

red notice trailer – YouTube

POSITIVES

– Enthralling direction. While nothing innovative or original with regards to reinventing the wheel of intense action sequences, the collection of such for “Red Notice” invoke with them a sense of urgency and physicality as a result of some experienced hands on the movie’s presentational aspects. The editing, while occasionally erratic in some sequences more than others, does bring with it an elevating intensity that corresponds cohesively with the swiftness of the rampant fight choreography seamlessly, keeping us invested with the heat of the engagement without obscuring clarity in the consistency of the offense. In addition to this, the proximity of the camera angles, as well as the succeeding nature of their dedication to following the characters, also simultaneously adds to the immersive nature of the engagement, leading to several instances, especially during the opening sequence, where I myself questioned how such a movement through a tight space was even possible with such a versatility.

– Atmospheric awareness. If a film like “Red Notice” took itself too seriously as an action product, it would directly undercut the appealing nature of the magnetic personalities that stem from our trio of heavyweights at the forefront of the story. Since it doesn’t, and allows for moments of self-deprecating humor to continuously break the ice, the experience supplants a mindlessly fun engagement that led to more than a few moments of hearty laughter, made all the more impressive with the limitations of its rating, to which Reynolds is typically not used to. The humor itself is sporadically hit and miss, but the mayhem that ensues from more than a few humbling experiences, helps to keep the film’s creative feet firmly in the ground of easy-going expectation, giving us a post-summer popcorn flick with all of the quips and scene-halting punchlines that help create a laid back aspect for the audience invested at home.

– Triple threat. There’s nothing attained here from the trio of Johnson, Reynolds, and Gadot that will serve as ideal arguments in the fight against people saying they’re one dimensional actors, but I’d be lying if I said anything other than they are the single greatest aspect of this film, and one deserving of the chance for the film, in the first place. For my money, Gadot is the show-stealer here, despite the briefest amount of screen time deposited between the three. With it, her familiarity for physicality is certainly there, but it’s the evidential fun that Gadot supplants in a role with a questionable moral compass that allows her to be as bad as she wants to be, while more than holding her own against the boys she constantly dons the screen with. Reynolds is also a delight with the same caustic wit and impeccable timing that I surprisingly haven’t tired from yet, despite it being present in so much of his recent filmography. The chemistry shared with Dwayne harvests a rivalry-turned-friendship that cements a nourishing quality to the meaning of their relationship, all the while proving the capabilities that each of them attain in carrying a movie, but here only requiring 1/3 of the typical influence.

– Ever-changing scenery. Like the high stakes heist films that came before it, “Red Notice” too values varying geographic landscapes and bold transitional sequencing to convey its stakes among a universal backdrops. From an art museum in Rome, to a mountain top prison in Russia, to even a jungle and corresponding treasure mine in Argentina, the varying degree of visual intoxication serves a justifiable expense in the allure of on-site exotic landscapes, nearly costing the film a hefty 200 million dollar price tag, but one that German cinematographer Marcus Forderer zeroes in on with the luster of influential color that spring from their dominance. Because of such, it feels very much like a vacation we take with these vibrant personalities, and ones who use the aspects of the environment to create a physical and psychological advantage that typically resolves every conflict with alluring beauty in the backdrops of such gritty, unforgiving engagements.

NEGATIVES

– Overstuffed run time. In clocking in at two full hours for the engagement, “Red Notice” highlights many problems within the redundancy of its growth, or the plodding nature of its pacing, but it’s the necessity of explaining every little detail that leads to a repetitive annoyance that left its exposition doomed on arrival. If done a couple of times throughout the movie, a flashback exposition dump can be forgivable, mainly because it enhances a twist with layers of previously unforeseen circumstance that redefines the movements of the current day narrative. However, the sporadic indulgence of nearly twenty times invests far too much in the how and the why of the occasion, taking far too much momentum or urgency away from the conflict materializing in the present, giving us improper padding for these long-winded diatribes that could easily be summarized in a single solitary sentence to condense halting and cut our film by twenty minutes that would lose nothing because of such.

– Predictably silly. When the film isn’t dwindling interests with a narrative that is mediocre at best, it’s instilling these series of twists that were not only obviously detectable in the meandering clumsiness of the dialogue, but also lessened the stakes and consequences in a movie that can easily be deemed inconsequential. You’ve seen it in films like “Wild Things” or “Collateral Beauty”, where too many twists can over-convolute the essence of the narrative, leading the audience down a slippery slope of interpretation that stunts their investment, but the bigger problem here is that the twists themselves grow all the more tedious and inane when you see the diminishing returns on their impacts, feeling like logic-breaking instances designed for the audience, instead of harrowing realities for the characters caught in the middle of their deceptions. It leads to a third act that is among the most ridiculous that I have seen in quite sometime, and one that completely eradicates any semblance of investment that I had for these morally-ambiguous characters and their lack of compelling motivations.

– Pointless antagonist. How often can I say a main character in a film is pointless? It attains that notoriety here because despite the abundance of the film’s first act focusing on the backstory of his rise to infamy, he’s essentially forgotten about after the rushed arrival of his confrontation with our leading trio, washed away by a movie that sees how contradicting he is to the film shaping up surrounding him. Instead of a villain who plays into the aspect of the laid back tonal consistency, his intensity and ferocity exposes him as the single weakest link in a movie progressing without him, wrapping up his arc with an entire hour left in the film’s progression, and all but alluding to some life-shattering twist (Or twistS) to keep the danger and dramatic impulse of the film firmly in reach. With three protagonists as big in cinematic stature as Johnson, Reynolds and Gadot are, the necessity of an equally commanding antagonist could’ve taken the pressure of two hours away from their faithful perspective, and given us a character who matches each of them on physical and mental attributes to continuously test them.

– Underwhelming merit. It’s no surprise that the abundance of that aforementioned immense budget comes from the magnitude of its ensemble, instead of the possibility of some endearing production in its grasp. This leaves the sound design and C.G backdrops feeling like they’re lacking in the appeal of aspects that they competently bring to the table, leading to several moments of un-intentioned laughter at the cost of their amateur rendering. For the sound, the combination of explosions and crumbling devastation is solid enough, but the audio deposits of post-production point to more than a few glaring instances of lips and facial movements not exactly lining up to what is being spoken, in addition to a sound for their deposits that feels two notches higher than the naturalistic dialogue being read in the heat of the scene’s recording. As for the computer-rendered properties, one such sequence involving a bull ring would’ve been lifeless enough and bewildering by 2005 standards, but in 2021, especially at the benefit of 200 million at its disposal, doesn’t attain an inkling of believability or seamless texture to subdue doubt.

– Convenience overload. When you come to understand the level of plot convenience unloaded at the seams of this film, you get a spiritual sequel to the Fast and Furious franchise, with enough holes in logic to fit a hummer through a helmet. If it’s not enough to try to comprehend how Reynolds could physically hold his own against Johnson, or how Johnson could walk away from being rammed by a bull without even a limp as a consequence, your eyes will give way to even more titanic leaps of logic that continuously come at a cost of character instances that are only there to push a scene to the next one, and give us a film where gravity, expectation, vulnerability, or even a circumstantial error in planning leads to something condemning for the character surprised by such matters. It’s got more convenience than a Wal-Mart, and more evacuating escape routes than one too, proving a life ease for the characters, despite the magnitude of their mission, which should lead to more compelling peril along the way.

My Grade: 5/10 or D