‘Red Notice’ is silly, and that’s fine!
Netflix
It’s not called “Red Notice (Taylor’s Version),” all descriptive and emotional and important. There’s a place for that (on “Red [Taylor’s Version]”). This is not that place. “Red Notice” needs few words: Action good. Lines funny. Movie fun enough.
Granted, it would be beyond easy to dunk on the latest splashy Netflix release to invest in global locations and slick cinematography and (runs away to count the profits). A buddy-heist-action-comedy screams of screenplay-by-algorithm. Yet even if no one’s favorite meal should be concocting whatever from what’s in the fridge, it’s OK to like that too.
Somewhere between “National Treasure” for teenagers and “Mission: Impossible” set to easy, “Red Notice” auto-populates Dwayne Johnson as tough-yet-likable FBI agent John Hartley, Ryan Reynolds as smartass art thief Nolan Booth, and Gal Gadot as an effortlessly charismatic rival thief -- because in this world there is much debate about power rankings when it comes to swiping ancient and very valuable eggs formerly owned by Cleopatra. Come for the “Ocean’s” movies by way of Michael Bay, stay for a history lesson.
Of course not. The story is neither the point nor a liability, and no point elaborating further. There’s certainly a separate conversation to be had about what $20 million could pay for rather than the salary of an already quite rich movie star.
But as Reynolds and Johnson trade barbs and travel from Rome to Bali to Valencia to, of course, a Russian prison, it shouldn’t be ignored that “Red Notice” is neither oppressively violent nor cruel. It is often juvenile (too many of Nolan’s jokes are targeted at 13-year-old boys with outdated ideas about masculinity), sure, and the parts are so tailored to the cast that their performances may be the result of the Deep Fake technology that Nolan utilizes at one point. The whole enterprise could be called high-end coasting. To some that’s lazy; others feel the wind in their hair. While laughing consistently and marveling at some strong set pieces, it’s hard not to remember Mark McGwire on “The Simpsons” asking, “Do you want to know the terrifying truth, or do you want to see me sock a few dingers?”
While that doesn’t mean writer-director Rawson Marshall Thurber (“Skyscraper,” “Central Intelligence”) hits a lot of home runs, he does bring rhythm to the large sequences and timing to the repartee. The movie is a little boring and a little annoying, but undemanding is not the same as lowbrow, and passable entertainment has a spectrum too. Just because you don’t need to go on the ride again doesn’t mean the first time was a waste.
B-
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