‘Red Notice’ Review: An Uninventive Maxi Netflix Algorithm Event 

Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot and Ryan Reynolds in a movie give you exactly Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot and Ryan Reynolds in a movie, just as you know them. A bit confusing, I know. A movie with the trio, such as Red Notice, is just a movie with actual star and fantasized superhero power. And taking a look at Netflix’s most popular English films should tell you why this film—reportedly Netflix’s most expensive (at $160-200 million)—exists in the first place. It is a list that has Extraction, 6 Underground, Spenser Confidential, Army of the Dead, The Old Guard and Murder Mystery, alongside a Scorcese gem, one meme-fueled movie, and two other teenage-beloved flicks. The listed titles, if you can’t decipher, are action-fuelled movies that boast stars, stars, stars and mayhem. Certainly cooked up by the algorithm, and served by writer-director Rawson Marshall Thurber (Skyscraper, Central Intelligence), Johnson, Gadot and Reynolds come together to play dress up as themselves in this unimaginative ‘travel buddy’ thriller.

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In the first thirty minutes of the 1hr 56min globetrotting story, we follow the stars (worthy of standalone superhero movies) across multiple countries. FBI profiler John Hartley (Dwayne Johnson) is framed for the theft of a prized ancient cultural gem. To clear his name, he is forced to team up with a con man, Ryan Reynolds’ ever light-hearted character even in the face of danger. Pulling the strings is Gal Gadot who is constantly steps ahead of the duo. The larger part of the movie follows the reluctant male duo, occasionally sabotaging each other mainly because of their continuous conflicting interests, as they seek to find a solution to Gadot’s stylish antagonistic prowess.

Ryan Reynolds as Ryan Reynolds might be starting to get tiring, even as funny as his lines may be a few times in the movie. Little wonder why he might be taking a sabbatical to “spend time with family”. Watching him in Red Notice makes you wonder how long he can keep rehashing the same wit by just being the (free) guy we have seen in multiple movies—even on social media, when we are not watching his movie. 

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Gal Gadot is as we’ve always known her, doing what she does best comfortably, which could be said about anyone else. She plays the Slytherin-like character so well she could voice Kaa sometime in another future Jungle Book live-action or animation remake. And Dwayne Johnson as a “macho-I-can-hang-from-a-building-without-breaking-a-sweat-muscle” man just gives what it has constantly given in his last 5 movies (which is without fact-checking). The three leads come together to remain uninventive, even the twist is one that you see coming, and most of the film you are left wondering who is about to screw who over, since they are ‘certainly’ all cut from the same cloth with a few hints here and there.

Watching and laughing and taking a peek at your phone (cos the movie allows), you ask yourself, “what do they all bring to the movie that shouldn’t make me forget it when Netflix releases another 52+ features in 2022?”. I have got an answer: nothing new, except from Netflix’s mega-budget and glam. It is not all doom and gloom since some people still demand such movies. While some don’t, nobody can be faulted for their choices, but we can all come to a decision that some things have been overdone and might not need to be attempted again, even if it’s been conjured by the almighty algorithm. As much as the film has been built and sponsored like a grand cinematic event, which might be useless, it would most reasonably be enjoyed in one’s home— right on Netflix.

Rating: 6.5/10

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Side Musings

• How many more movies until Ryan Reynolds as Ryan Reynolds doesn’t work anymore. I’m sensing a reinvention might be needed soon. I hope the sabbatical helps.

• Deadpool, Wonder Woman and Black Adam in a movie; and what do I get for paying 13,99 monthly? Netflix, really?

• Did they intentionally cast the London office analyst as a Simon Pegg double? The resemblance is uncanny. 

• Seeing the title cards—London, Valencia, Bali, Rome, Russia, Sardinia, and Egypt—only made me miss Villanelle and her foe. Killing Eve fans in the house?

• The arrest in Egypt: “You’re under arrest, father of the bride”. Nice!
• According to reports, Red Notice was, unsurpisingly, Netflix’s biggest opening day yet. Do not wonder when we are fed more installments and/or even more like it, just with a different title.

Red Notice is streaming on Netflix.