Does 'Red Notice' Intentionally Being Camp...Ruin The Camp?
Starring Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot, Ritu Arya, Chris Diamantopoulos and Ivan Mbakop
Rated PG-13
Action, comedy
Run time: 1 hr, 58 min
Directed and written by Rawson Marshall Thurber
On Netflix November 12, 2021
I’m relatively convinced that Ryan Reynolds now only takes roles that are basically just versions of himself, but odds are, I’ll still keep watching. Thankfully, Reynolds as a human is so entertaining that he almost seems fictional so it works just fine. If we break down the main three cast members in this movie to a few words, Reynolds is himself, Dwayne Johnson is….also himself and Gal Gadot is an absolutely gorgeous exposition dump. And that’s pretty much all you need to know to prepare you for a movie that is exactly what it seems: a cheesy heist action flick. It participated in every single trope imaginable, but it does each one with a wink. And I can’t quite figure out if that makes it better or worse.
From the very first moment, Red Notice tries to follow in the footsteps of the Fast & the Furious by leaning in hard to every expectation we’ve come to have when it comes to heist films. Set ups, double crossing, evil plans being explained, snarky one liners, a tension filled dance scene between adversaries. You know, the usual. Reynolds plays a famed art thief (the second best, as is repeatedly clarified), Johnson is the agent chasing after him and Gadot is The Bishop, the best art thief that is pulling quite a few strings behind the scene. The goal? Locate all three of Cleopatra’s golden eggs in time to offer them up for a rich man’s daughter’s birthday, with a killer paycheck attached, of course. Needless to say, hijinks ensue.
There is a certain amount of joy I get from silly movies that embrace what they are with no apologies. I’m the one who legitimately guffawed at Idris Elba saying, “I’m black Superman,” in Hobbes & Shaw. I actively seek out movies with ridiculously low Rotten Tomatoes score, and when everyone on the cast seems to be all in, it’s an utter joy. However, with this film, I’ve been considering the big question: is the campiness of a film lessened if it seems that’s what the movie was intending to be from the start? Does some of the charm of a bad movie go away when the script is actively calling out its cliches or winking at the audience as it follows through an entirely predictable structure and plot? I enjoyed this movie, and it was a really enjoyable way to spend two hours on a Friday night, but was it actually a good movie?
The more I think about it, the more I lean towards this being a mediocre movie. Two of the main cast of three are essentially just being themselves with a different backstory and the third’s entire character is a walking, talking explainer. I actually think if Gadot’s character had done almost anything else in addition to just waltzing in and informing the audience exactly what had happened both on and off screen, it could have been better. I didn’t love Reynolds’ fourth wall breaking, even though I did laugh at a couple remarks; not every movie is Deadpool, but it seems that is no longer true for him. I’d absolutely recommend this movie to anyone who appreciates the genre, and with it being on Netflix, it requires so little effort and cost in order to view it. But I unfortunately am having to land on the side of it not being a great film overall. If you’re a fan of the actors, you’re in for a treat, because they’re exactly what you’re going to get.