“Red Notice” - Movie Review

Story posted November 23, 2021 in

“Red Notice” is an action-comedy version of a chess match.

“Red Notice” is the latest film from director Rawson Marshall Thurber. Thurber was previously known for comedies like “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story” and “Central Intelligence”.

Thurber, known for his cheesy comedies and stereotypical action flicks, has merged the two into a cheesy, stereotypical action movie.

The movie is centered around two art thieves and a cop competing to get three of Cleopatra’s missing golden eggs which is considered a big deal in the art world and is worth millions of dollars.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s cop and Ryan Reynolds’ art thief form an unlikely partnership between the two to defeat their main competitor, Gal Gadot’s Bishop, in collecting all the eggs after Bishop sold them out.

Their partnership comes along with the stereotypical plot of two characters who don’t get along and are forced to work together.

The banter between the two leads to some funny moments, most noticeably, there is a scene in prison where Reynolds starts yelling in the cafeteria to form a riot against Johnson because Reynolds’ character got annoyed.

Speaking of violence, the movie is filled with a lot of it, with many fun action pieces spread across the world.

The first bit of action is an epic chase between Reynolds and cops through an art museum.

It is always fun to see different action sequences in films like these, such as in the art museum. It was entertaining to see art pieces become distractions and weapons.

The set pieces are grand as well, with grand displays in a Colosseum to a car chase in South America each set piece is a sight to see.

Since it is a cheesy action-comedy the character development was lackluster.

The characters were all stereotypical, like Reynolds’ Nolan Booth who is an art thief who doesn’t play well with others.

Since the character is played by Reynolds, though, Booth has all the humor and charm of Reynolds.

Johnson is also playing himself with his character John Hartley, who is a cop once more.

He is trying to capture the bishop after being framed by her and the only way to do it is by teaming up with Booth. Hartley also has the charm and humor Johnson brings.

Gal Gadot’s Bishop was very fun to watch, though.

Bishop always had a successful plan up her sleeve and had plenty of humor or fighting skills that made her villain seem like an actual threat to the characters.

Oddly, all the three main characters had daddy issues which bonded them all.

The other two noticeable characters are Ritu Arya’s Inspector Urvashi Das and Chris Diamantopoulos’s Sotto Voce.

Arya’s Inspector Urvashi Das was the cop that was hunting down the art thieves and Hartley.

Her performance was very underutilized and just felt more of a pawn to the Bishop than an actual threat.

Diamantopoulos’ Voce is a wealthy strangler that holds one of the Eggs.

He is the cheesy side villain that’s very underwhelming and is canon fodder for the main villain, but he did serve an importance for the gala and Colosseum scenes.

The plot is centered around who can get the eggs first and is primarily very predictable.

It is enjoyable to see all the characters outthink one another, though.

The most impressive part was the end twist of the movie. It was surprising and left the jaw hanging, but the flaw was how quickly the movie undermined the twist for a happier ending and to set up a sequel.

“Red Notice” is a comfort movie with cheesy action and the actors, but other than that, “Red Notice” does not have much to offer.

Rating: 2/5 Stars


Ethan Hetrick is a first-year communications major. To contact him, email eth5186@psu.edu