Ratings: 4/5
Movie Name:Red Notice
Cast:Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot, Ryan Reynolds
Director:Rawson Marshall Thurber
Everyone loves a good heist film. Cops chasing, and thieves outrunning them in the most stylish way – expensive cars skidding and perhaps equally expensive suits ripping. Add to that the budget of over $160 million and three suave actors – Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot – and you have what Netflix set out to create in the first place. A hit! That’s what Red Notice is. And there are no red flags.
The film starts off by introducing us to Nolan Booth (Ryan Reynolds), the world’s second-best art thief. Which instantly begs the question, who is the best? The elusive Bishop (Gal Gadot), of course, who right now has joined hands with one FBI special agent John Heartly (Dwayne Johnson) to help catch Booth before he flips Cleopatra’s second egg from a museum. Why? To ensure the numero uno spot remains uncontested. Yet, the loose strings, that seem to attach by themselves within the first 20 minutes of the film, appear way too simplistic for even a feel-good sort of heist film such as this. Why is Bishop actually doing this? Dwayne The Rock Johnson certainly doesn’t look like a cop – which many point out in the film, by the way – so is there something there? Ryan, as goofy as ever, is he just a sidekick in this elaborate Cleopatra’s eggs-stealing story? Well, it would be nearly impossible to tell you anything more on that without giving out major, and we mean MAJOR, spoilers. So, mum is the word for us.
What we can talk about are the performances that these three beautiful, beautiful actors deliver. At the risk of sounding shallow, Red Notice is a beautiful looking film, and aside from the money Netflix pumped into it, spent on gorgeous sets and stunning action sequences, a lot of credit goes to the cast itself. I mean it is impossible to look away from any frame because it is occupied by either Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot or all three. C’mon!
If Ryan is goofy, Dwayne is his perfect foil, delivering comedy scenes with a straight face. Together, they are the Batman-Robin duo who elevate any scene. When it comes to action, you can’t really look beyond Dwayne, and he doesn’t disappoint. Ryan matches his steps, not in brute force but with more comedy. Gal, on the other hand, is perfectly cast. She’s not the stylish distraction, she’s extremely svelte when performing her stunts – and we wouldn’t expect anything less from Wonder Woman, right?
And the trio has the most delicious, infectious chemistry to boot. With each twist – almost Abbas Mastan-esque, if I may – each character is exposed a little more, like peeling an onion, and you discover another layer of the chemistry these actors share. Dwayne, in an interview during the promotions of Red Notice, had said that he and Ryan go “way back” and that shows. The comfort comes from precisely that.
When all three go at it together, it is like music – a perfectly synchronised symphony that has you dancing to their tune.
Netflix’s Red Notice is ambitious, simply because of the amount of money they spent to create this. And they managed an ensemble cast that further goes to show that the OTT giant is in an all-in mode. Is it a gamble? Yes. Can it recover the moolah spent? It most certainly can.
As for the other question – should films like these go for theatre release rather than OTT? Well, the world has changed, especially in the last two years. And while in India we still indulge in a theatre vs OTT debate, in the West, filmmakers like Rawson Marshall Thurber are embracing it with open arms.
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