'Red Notice' Review : Waste of Money

I was really excited to see this film, but it turned out to be a waste of money. The first thing that made me not want to watch it is that I had no idea who the main character was - some guy from Russia who's wanted for some crime or something. I don't know. Secondly, it was just so hard to follow. I don't know if it's because of the language barrier, or what, but there were so many characters and so much going on with them all at once. It took me an hour and a half longer than it should have because I kept getting distracted and having to rewind scenes and try to figure out what the heck was going on.

Something about Dwayne Johnson burned out sometime between his early years as a pro wrestler and his ascension to becoming one of the highest-paid actors in the business today. The action actor gained fame thanks to his cheeky charm and ease with which he conveyed a leonine intensity while switching to softy mode at a moment's notice. Johnson stood out against dark synthetic backdrops of collapsing cities and candy-colored jungles as Hollywood began to rely more heavily on green screens. Nonetheless, I miss the days when his brows did all the work.

For example, the actor's most recent collaboration with writer and director Rawson Marshall Thurber ("Skyscraper," "Central Intelligence") is "Red Notice." Johnson goes through the motions with no pizazz in this Netflix adventure film about cops and art thieves searching for a unique treasure. He's nearly blind as if the corporate masters who churn out mediocrity after mediocrity with his name on the marquee have sapped his soul. Our gaze is drawn to him, but only for one reason lately: he's enormous. Prepare for a completely unexpected confrontation with a furious bull. (Yes, this occurs.)

 When he is framed by "The Bishop" (Gal Gadot), a rival art thief with a tendency for sabotage, Johnson plays FBI profiler John Hartley, who is compelled to partner up with professional art thief Nolan Booth (Ryan Reynolds). The legal strongman, the shrewd jester, and the femme fatale comprise a trio of archetypes. Constant rug-pulling complicates things, but not in any genuinely startling manner — the performances are too lazy and mechanical to carry off the film's various twists and double-crossings with any flair or umph. Then there's the writing, which turns Reynolds into a cursed spitfire of cheesy one-liners. If you listen attentively, you can hear a hint of remorse in his voice.

The plot revolves around an Indiana Jones-style quest for Cleopatra's three golden eggs. After a wild chase through an art museum in Rome, Booth outmaneuvers Hartley, but fate catches up with him in Bali. In a Russian prison, the two become friends and travel to a gala in Valencia, then to an underground hideaway in the South American jungle.

However, globetrotting loses its allure when everything appears to be made of plastic. And, for a heist film that seems to be laying the groundwork for a franchise in the spirit of "The Mummy" or "National Treasure," there's no sense of discovery, no thrills in anticipation of our heroes discovering and connecting the clues. "Red Notice" is essentially a costly display of star power—only the stars don't have it in them. It's uninterested in world-building or generating any feeling of stakes.

In conclusion, I will first say that I watched the first 65 minutes of the movie and walked out. The movie has a decent plot and the first 65 minutes was enjoyable. The problem is that the movie is 2 and a half hours long and we watch as the main character slowly climbs up the corporate ladder at the FBI. It is full of clichés, not enough action, definitely not worth the money, and it definitely is not worth your time.