Sommerleigh Pollonais, Senior Writer

Plot: An Interpol agent tracks the world’s most wanted art thief.

Review: What do you get when you put Ryan Reynolds, Dwayne Johnson and Gal Gadot in your made-for-Netflix action heist movie? Well you get an action heist movie that’s just a tad better than it deserves to be.

Looking and feeling like the love-child of Ocean’s 11 and any recent Mission Impossible flick, we follow Agent Hartley (Johnson), a profiler who’s expertise lies in catching art thieves. His mission—to capture the most wanted art thief, Nolan Booth (Reynolds), with the help of Interpol Inspector Urvashi Das (Ritu Arya) before he can steal a priceless egg that once belonged to Cleopatra. Seemingly successful Hartley is ready to return to the United States, only to be framed by an elusive and extremely skilled art thief called The Bishop (Gadot). Forced to team up, Hartley and Booth race around the world to find the other two eggs that complete the collection before The Bishop can beat them to it. Shenanigans ensue.

Possibly Netflix’s most expensive movie to date (it cost roughly $250 million to produce this) Red Notice is actually a pretty fun movie. It’s not that we haven’t seen ANY OF THIS before but I can’t deny there’s definitely energy behind the performances and the locations are beautifully shot and well put to use. As I mentioned before the film does borrow heavily from other movies, hell even the adventure stylings of the Indiana Jones movies feature here, but what makes it work is the fact that everyone involved knows this has all been done before. There’s even a scene where Ryan Reynolds literally refers to the eggs as a MacGuffin (an object in a movie or book which serves merely as a trigger for the plot).

And as we’re on the topic of Reynolds, let’s talk about the real reason Red Notice is a step up from similar movies that came out this year. Deadpool, Black Adam and Wonder Woman. Sorry I mean Reynolds, Johnson and Gadot. All three of our main players (but mostly Reynolds and Gadot) are having a lot of fun with their roles. Ryan Reynolds can make toothpaste funny and his sense of comedic timing and improvisation skills go a long way in making the comedy here work. I love how much fun he was having at The Rock’s expense (“lift with you neck!”) and I found myself laughing aloud multiple times.

Some may argue Gal Gadot is simply playing Wonder Woman (or more specifically Princess Diana) here but I disagree. I think Gadot was relishing playing the role of villain for a change; she just plays a villain with a more mischievous sense of humour and a lot of sex appeal. Johnson is the straight man of the group and while it works he’s the one who feels the most replaceable in his role.

Still, the chemistry and screen presence of all three goes a long way in adding positive reasons to watch this movie. And with its tight pacing and uncomplicated plot it’s no wonder Red Notice is racking in the positive reviews from fans (on Rotten Tomatoes it currently has a 92 per cent audience score, though critics are much less impressed at 35 per cent).

I’ll also throw in another point for having a plot twist that I honestly didn’t see coming. I’m not saying it works one hundred percent (because it doesn’t) but I was genuinely surprised. And with a post credit scene that promises a sequel, Red Notice just might be the best heist movie of the year.

Sommer’s Score 6.5 out of 10

For more of my thoughts on the film you can check out my video review below:

So what did you think of Red Notice? And you can check out more great content below:

 Sommerleigh of the House Pollonais. First of Her Name. Sushi Lover, Queen of Horror Movies, Comic Books and Binge Watching Netflix. Mother of two beautiful black cats named Vader and Kylo. I think eating Popcorn at the movies should be mandatory, PS4 makes the best games ever, and I’ll be talking about movies until the zombie apocalypse comes.

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