by Charles Kirkland, Jr.
What do you get when you put three of the world’s top box office draws together? The action-comedy, Red Notice that’s what!
According to rumor, there were three golden eggs made for Queen Cleopatra. Since their creation and the Queen’s death, the extravagantly fabulous eggs have never been together again. Inspired by a $30 million bounty, Nolan Booth (Ryan Reynolds) decides to steal all three eggs and reunite them. FBI Agent John Hartley (Dwayne Johnson), on a tip from the anonymous and mysterious international jewel thief known only as “The Bishop,” sets out to stop and apprehend Booth. Hartley captures Booth but is double-crossed by The Bishop and they both are sent off to lockup in a black site in Russia. The only way Hartley can clear his name is to team up with Booth and capture The Bishop and reclaim the stolen eggs.
Written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber (We’re The Millers, Dodgeball, Skyscraper), Red Notice is an action-comedy movie, buddy-cop style, starring Reynolds and Johnson and Gal Gadot, Ritu Arya, and Chris Diamantopoulos.
Ryan Reynolds has a certain style. Right now, it’s Deadpool, the wise-cracking, whip-smart, devil-may-care joker with a heart of gold. It seems like almost everything he does lately, he is Deadpool. So what do you get in this movie? Ryan Reynolds is a non-costumed version of the anti-hero. The funny thing is he pairs up perfectly with The Rock.
Speaking of typecasting, Dwayne Johnson is really good at playing Agent Hobbs. You know, the incredibly jacked super-agent who is stopped by almost nothing to get whatever and whomever he wants. As usual, Johnson grunts grins, and flexes his way through scenes with all the charm that he possesses. The pairing of Reynolds and Johnson is as fun as Murphy and Nolte.
Instead of Billy Bear and Ganz, the monkey wrench in the affair is the lovely Gal Gadot as the wily super-thief The Bishop. Gadot is as smart and funny as Reynolds and as skilled a fighter as Johnson. A worthy adversary, it’s delightful to see her outwitting and kicking the butts of her co-stars.
So what happens when you have Deadpool, Black Adam, and Wonder Woman, three of the world’s most bankable stars all in the same movie together? You take a little bit of 48 Hrs., some Pulp Fiction, a piece of Raiders of the Lost Ark, and throw in a True Lies style tango and you have magic. It is a quite entertaining film that borrows from the past to create a nice present.
Rated PG-13 for violence and action, some sexual reference, and strong language, Red Notice is a whole lot of fun. It is a very cleverly put-together film that has the possibility of a possibly successful franchise looming in the near future. In the midst of the release of so many prestige films, Red Notice is an oasis of fun that deserves a little visit.
Red Notice can be seen on Netflix.
Grade: B-