By Jay Betsill
Red Notice is a big budget crime caper filled with big stars Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot that plays out like Netflix threw the Indiana Jones, Jason Bourne, James Bond, Ocean’s Eleven and Mission Impossible movies into a blender and delivered this slick action flick that turns out to be as fun as it sounds.
The action gets underway with a TV special that details the history behind Cleopatra’s eggs with two of their whereabouts known in a museum and with a private collector, while the third’s location remains a mystery.
FBI profiler John Hartley (Johnson) gets an anonymous tip that the notorious thief Nolan Booth (Reynolds) is on the verge of stealing the egg that is in the museum. Hartley teams up with Interpol agent Das (Ritu Arya) to thwart Booth’s plan which leads them to capturing him at an ultra modern paradise in Bali.
When the egg disappears, Das flips the script and detains Hartley after discovering a large cash deposit in an account under his name and puts him in the same prison with Booth. This leads Hartley to be forced to team up with Booth to clear his name by going after Booth’s main competition, a slick thief known simply as “The Bishop.”
“The Bishop” has a goal to obtain all three of Cleopatra’s eggs in order to sell them to a billionaire for a hefty fee so that he can give them to his daughter for a wedding present.
Writer-director Rawson Marshall Thurber, who previously worked with Johnson on Central Intelligence and Skyscraper, combines a multitude of cons into double crosses and twists — some obvious and some not quite so obvious — that keeps the audience guessing between the laughs provided by Reynolds’ wisecracks and Johnson’s reactions.
The chemistry between the three stars is the reason this movie works and the reason that it will likely be a franchise once Netflix releases its numbers.
With its budget reportedly coming in the $200 million range, Red Notice is the most expensive Netflix project to date. According to Variety, the three lead actors each received $20 million with Johnson receiving additional compensation as a producer on the film.
There’s nothing in Red Notice that you likely haven’t seen if you enjoy films along the lines of True Lies and Mr. & Mrs. Smith, but it is a fun way to spend two hours if you are fans of its stars..
Red Notice is currently streaming on Netflix.
RED NOTICE (Rated PG-13)
Scale of 1-10 – 7
