With unexpected twists, a phenomenal cast choice, and brilliant comedy, Netflix’s Red Notice is a good movie, but not good enough to be number one and not bad enough to receive its surprisingly low score on Rotten Tomatoes.
An FBI agent (Dwayne Johnson) attempts to hunt down a mischievous art thief (Ryan Reynolds) but ends up teaming up with him to catch an even better international art thief (Gal Gadot). They are each on a mission to find all three of Cleopatra’s bejeweled eggs before the other does. With the star power of Johnson, Reynolds, and Gadot, Red Notice has now become Netflix’s biggest movie with over 277,900,000 viewing hours.
The film was made with a budget of 200 million USD but received a surprisingly low Rotten Tomato score of 36% and an audience score of 92%.
At the start, it seemed like the movie would be like any other mystery/action movie with a predictable ending, but the twist at the end was very unexpected. Aside from Reynolds’s humor, the funniest and most unexpected part of Red Notice was the appearance of English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran. He played himself in the movie and sang his most popular song ‘Perfect’. Even though his screen time lasted less than two minutes, his cameo in the (plot event where this happened) made the movie better. One of the best things about the movie was the cast. Having Johnson, Gadot, and Reynolds on the same screen was the main appeal for me to start the movie. They made it much more entertaining, and I can’t say I would have watched it if there was a different cast. They each played their part very well and I thought Reynolds and Johnson made a good pair, balancing each other well.
However, the cast for the movie probably had more potential. The careers and past movies of each starred actor and actress could be enough to make the movie more popular, but the movie did not meet the expectations set out by the actors. Dwayne Johnson (Fast and Furious, Jumanji, Moana), the second-highest-paid actor, played FBI agent John Hartley. Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman), Israel defense forces soldier, Miss Israel 2004, and model, played the antagonist, The Bishop. Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool, Green Lantern) adds comedy to the movie as Nolan Booth. These actors brought each of their characters alive, but the overall storyline could have been improved to match up to these big names on screen together.
The movie had a very Indiana Jones movie-like feel. Like those movies involves recovering an ancient artifact, sometimes from another country. Indiana Jones movies are also full of unexpected twists and turns – usually with the antagonist.
Even with bad reviews from critics, the movie was entertaining. I would definitely recommend it as a fun watch.
