Wow! Red Notice is officially the biggest film release for a Netflix original. Is it any good though?

THE GOOD

Damn, I love me some MacGuffins: What we have here is a classic cops and robbers film, and what is one of these without some good old macguffins? I’m usually pretty locked in when a plot revolved around hunting down some ancient artifacts for a bulky price. Sure, if you played a drinking game every time you heard the word, “egg’ you’d be wasted within fifteen minutes, but it’s a fun plot device that does its job well in this movie.

The hunt for them justifies our stylish shift in landscapes which aren’t short in this flick. However, that Netflix budget is noticeable in some places as that green screen in Europe and the studio set Argentina jungle stick out like sore thumbs.

The Cast IS the cast: This movie is certainly review bombed on Rotten Tomatoes but it is also a powerful example that star power still exists in Hollywood. Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot, and Ryan Reynolds each come in with their own set of celebrity skill and mesh well together on screen. This recipe is obviously what has made the movie such a powerhouse success for the streaming service owing it entirely to their names and their names alone.

I enjoyed Gadot playing a more flirtatious and conniving character. The Rock did what the Rock does best, and Reynolds at the very least had me smirking throughout with his usual sarcastic humor.

So obvious, but I didn’t mind: There is a ton of obvious foreshadowing in this movie. When they are underneath the stadium we know they’re going to have to face the bull, when they get to the bunker and we listen to that entire sell on the old car we knew there was going to be chase sequence, when we listened to the story about the watch we knew that it was going to play some kind of role and on and on it goes.

Despite how obvious so many of the points were in the film it was still a fun time! It’s an action robbery movie; it doesn’t need to be oscar worthy. Perhaps this justification will lose its steam the further we shift into the world of streaming, but the fact that this is a Netflix original, and I got to watch it from the comfort of my home, helped it gain points on my end rather than lose when it went through the motions of tropes.

The Twist: For a movie so predictable… They pulled off that ending, man! I did NOT see that one coming! Even though Hartley is basically outted at the very beginning of the film! Something in particular I always say needs to be in these thief movies is a SOLID twist, and boy they gave it! It’s a bummer that the strongest element of this movie comes towards the end but hey, a positive is a positive.

THE BAD

Typical: There is nothing here that pushes the boundaries, redefines the genre, no incredible performances, no new types of sequences, etc. It is a typical thief action movie. Which is totally fine! At no point during the ride did it seek to be anything other. At it’s core it’s what most movies should be- a damn good time.

Little Bored: I didn’t feel the need to watch this whole thing all the way through on the first sitting. It felt alright for me to press pause and come back later. This is something that highlights the benefits of streaming service such as Netflix but when it comes to movie quality its an obvious downgrade.

I have to give Red Notice a 6 out fo 10