Red Notice

I...umm...have something to say. 

And I felt like it's been a long time since I've had to say it.

Sometimes critics need to chill (and that's the G-rated version of what I said once credits rolled on this one).

This is especially true with Red Notice, a film where critic consensus is abysmal (not to mention 20 points less than as of the time of this writing). 

If anything, my intrigue for the film went way up once the awful reviews started rolling in. Could a film starring Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, and Gal Gadot really be that bad? So bad that it warrants, 0, 1, and 2 star reviews? 

The answer is a very easy "no". It's true, Red Notice doesn't do anything particularly special or impressive and it definitely doesn't live up to the concept of having the 3 biggest movie stars on the planet, but good Lord, it's dumb fun and I've certainly seen worse this year. 

In defense of some of the criticisms the film has received, there's definitely a feeling of "phoning it in" layered across the majority of the film and it shows up in different ways. The fact that so much budget went to these three stars who put butts in seats on their own means that other elements get left behind. Action choreography is [mostly] just "fine", for example, while the filmmaking itself really does nothing to inspire (sorry, not all that sorry director Rawson Marshall Thurber). Most startling however - and the truly atrocious part of Red Notice is the fakeness of its environments. This seems to be a Netflix staple as of late and I f**king hate it. Snowcapped mountains, jungle backgrounds, and more are completely digitally rendered. What's worse? The special effects are not convincing and it's something that takes you out of the film quickly as an audience member. A particularly egregious example of this comes during a bull fighting scene where Johnson, Reynolds, the bull, and the surrounding audience look so fake, you'd think we're back in the late 90s. 

Oh my...Gadot is into some freaky stuff...

"Joke's on you. I like being tied up."

So yeah, Red Notice is a bit lazy in many ways and really bad in at least one. But you came for the star power right? In that regard, Red Notice is somewhat dazzling to witness. At times I had a hard time believing these 3 megastars were sharing the screen together and most any scene with all three of them is a blast. Reynolds does his typical quipping here and somehow it just doesn't get old. I laughed semi-consistently, with a few really funny one-liners reminding me just how talented he is at his delivery. As are most films with him, this is Ryan Reynolds being Ryan Reynolds. Gadot gets to play around a bit more as she's the "villain". You can tell she's having a lot of fun and her charisma that we see in Wonder Woman is delightfully twisted in several scene-chewing moments. Strangely, it's Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson who comes across with making the least impact. He's his typical charismatic and machismo self (and he's been marketing the movie hard), but in a lot of ways, his character seems the most quiet and least vibrant. Johnson and Reynolds spend a lot of screen time together and have decent/good chemistry while the aforementioned moments with all three of them are often really fun. 

Our story is just absolutely silly - and I'm pretty sure all the twists and turns dont work out - but it's where the "dumb fun" part comes in. Johnson, an FBI profiler, catches Reynolds, an art thief, and they must work together to take down Gadot, "The Bishop". Many character motivations are silly and questionable and there are more than a handful of instances where supposedly smart characters make stupid decisions, but given this is arguably an action comedy it's never so bad or unbelievable that I hated it. It's merely "fine" with reveals that will likely make you roll your eyes before Reynolds delivers a funny quip about it all. 

I imagine critics are overreacting more because of what Red Notice represents versus how bad/good of a film it actually is. It's true, the fact that Netflix threw a ton of money to get 3 megastars and the outcome is merely "just" Red Notice is concerning (and in that way the film is quite disappointing). Removed from that point, Red Notice is a perfectly serviceable "3ish-star" movie that you watch, get a couple laughs, see some big stars, and move on from. 

So yeah, that's a bunch of words to essentially say, "It's not that bad and in fact, I enjoyed it."

CONS

• Holy f**k are the special effects A) awful and B) way overused
• Chris Diamantopoulos plays an arms dealer. His voice is absurd (I think it was supposed to be a joke?)
• Very generic filmmaking all around. Editing, cinematography, music, etc.
• Action beats didn't do much for me
• Story's twists and turns probably don't all work

PROS

• Incredible star power and it's obvious they're all having a blast together
• Reynolds and Gadot are the highlights. The former because he does his usual thing and the latter because she gets to have the most fun as the villain
• Surprisingly funny. Reynolds' quips are in full force here and I'd say ~70% of them land
• Story is dumb fun and "keeps you guessing" mainly just by hiding information from you. But it goes to fun places and locations
• Vapid, sure, but a fun, glitzy time nonetheless

Rath's Review Score | 7/10