RED NOTICE

The movie does exactly what is says on the tin and thanks to a game cast there is nothing wrong with that.

Does Red Notice re-invent the wheel? Hardly. This globetrotting adventure about competing art thieves borrows wholesale from the likes of True Lies, Romancing the Stone and Indiana Jones at one point Ryan Reynolds even whistles the Raiders theme - but at least it goes about it knowingly.

And that's the film's saving grace. Yes, you know exactly where the plot is going, with sworn enemies forced to work together while firing zingers at each other during elaborate set-pieces in exotic locales. And yes, the twists and turns along the way are as predictable as they are omnipresent. But Red Notice gets away with it by leaning into the old-school movie star charms of leading trio Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot.

It turns out there is something comforting about spending two idle hours in the presence of three famous actors doing their schtick and taking you along for the ride. Sure, there's little chance of Red Notice lingering in the mind longer than its runtime, but the movie is definitely more fun than I'd anticipated.

release: 2021

director: Rawson Marshall Thurber

starring: Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot, Rita Arya