Red Notice

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot, Ritu Arya, Chris Diamantopoulos

Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber

Top FBI Agent and profiler John Hartley (Johnson) has arrived in Rome to help Interpol agent Das (Arya) catch the world's most wanted art thief Nolan Booth (Reynolds). Booth has eyes on stealing one of Cleopatra's three famed golden, bejeweled eggs which were given to her as a gift by Marc Antony. After successfully stopping Booth, Hartley finds himself framed as the culprit and put in the same prison as Booth. Here he discovers that they were set up by The Bishop (Gadot), an up and coming criminal who has her eyes set on stealing the two remaining Eggs, one of which Booth knows the location of. As the duo break out of prison to stop Bishop, they soon discover a world of adventure and intrigue awaits, which points to an Italian Gangster named Sotto Voce (Diamantopoulos).

This is Dwayne Johnson's third collaboration with director Rawson Marshall Thurber after Central Intelligence and Skyscraper. Of the three, I think this is my favorite but in all honesty this movie could have been a bloated travesty. Instead it ends up being a pretty entertaining film that won't really stick with you long past the credits.

The action on display, while plentiful, doesn't do anything new and feels cobbled together from The Fast and the Furious franchise, Casino Royale, and Indiana Jones, among others. The film also has a villain problem, as it is unsure whether to commit to Gadot being the main baddie or Diamantopoulos' Sotto Voce. There isn't anything necessarily wrong with Diamantopoulos' character but he is barely around to register as an actual threat. I would have liked to have seen a more clear antagonist.

Keeping the film afloat is the chemistry between the leads. Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds get the lion-share of the screen time and they make the most of it. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Reynolds improvised the majority of his lines. Their banter at times is forced but keeps the movie rolling along. This is honestly the most fun I've seen Gal Gadot have in a movie. She gets to let loose and be silly and it works.

Speaking of silly, the ending of this movie is a lot of fun if you let it be. Not only are we treated to a chase in classic cars through a secret Nazi tunnel in Argentina, we get a very tongue in cheek twist that surprisingly works. I wish the rest of the film had been that clever. The only time it comes close is in its opening moments, where "Sabotage" gets used in a very funny rug pull on the audience.

The ending leaves things set up for potential future adventures, which judging by how much money Netflix was willing to sink into this installment ($160 million), seems likely. They will have to get more clever to be sustainable but this isn't the worst starting off point. It's worth a watch on a weekend afternoon. You might be surprised.

Grade: B-

Red Notice is available in theaters and on Netflix