“Red Notice” provides a light-hearted and comedic spin of the typical spy movie with a brilliant cast and captivating storyline.
The star-studded film features Nolan Booth (Ryan Reynolds, “Free Guy”), Special Agent John Hartley (Dwayne Johnson, “Jungle Cruise”) and Sarah Black, more commonly known as “The Bishop” (Gal Gadot, “Wonder Woman 1984”) as they weave through all of the classic spy movie tropes: A massive score, double crosses and hidden love affairs. Despite using the same clichés as other spy movies, “Red Notice” adds its own flair which makes the film feel much more original.
Booth is one of the top two most prolific art thieves in the world. Over the course of his thieving career, Booth had successfully evaded police until Hartley, an FBI profiler is brought in. After finding themselves both tricked into assisting the most notorious art thief in the world, “The Bishop,” the two strike up a mutually beneficial deal that will allow Hartley to arrest The Bishop and get his life back together and for Booth to make out with the score with no strings attached. The score in question: the three bejeweled eggs of Cleopatra.
Easily the most lovable part of this movie is the on-screen chemistry between Reynolds and Johnson. The two high profile actors are simply brilliant with their quick and effortless wit which makes the comedic aspect of this film seem more realistic. The natural way the two actors move from a comedic bout into a high stakes car chase is brilliant. As the audience we are the beneficiaries of the best of both worlds in terms of action and humor.
Another shining aspect of this film is the brilliance of Gadot. While not the main character the film follows, when the ever-illusive “Bishop” comes into play the cool and stoic way in which the actor plays the character makes her an easy fan favorite.
Despite the brilliance of the film’s cast, other aspects, such as the plot and set design, feel rushed at times. While the stereotypical spy movie does contain a lot of flashbacks to show the secretive nature of spies and their plans, when this happens in “Red Notice,” it feels as though these flashbacks exist to try and fill plot holes left in the script. The movie really did all it could to drive as much plot forward with their flashbacks and after a while it becomes noticeable.
However, this is far from the worst part of the movie. As the movie progresses, we follow the characters in their journey through different countries, across several continents and in many of these scenes, green screen is used as opposed to natural scenery. Unfortunately, the green screen looks extremely cheap and at times will make audience members outwardly exclaim their disgust for the scene design. If the movie could not afford to go and film the scene in a natural setting, or could not afford better green screen technology, it should have been omitted due to how much it takes the audience out of the movie.
That being said, the movie does suck the audience right back in when they realize that Reynolds and Johnson form one of the funniest action duos in recent film history. When one looks at the film by its face value, it is hard to say more than it was just good. The genius of the cast evenly balances out with the cheap and thin plot line of the film. “Red Notice” is overall a decent movie that can easily be enjoyed by anyone as long as they do not look too far into the finer details because that is where the major problems lie.
Image from Netflix via YouTube
