Red Notice is a 2021 action comedy written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber. Red Notice has a star-trio-cast of Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Godat.
The film was acquired by Netflix from Universal Pictures for distribution and had a limited theatrical release on November 5, 2021 followed by digitally streaming on the platform on November 12, 2021.
Netflix says that Red Notice had the biggest opening day ever for a movie, and that it ranked No. 1 in over 90 countries over the opening weekend. Netflix launched a site that keeps view stats of the top ten list of movies Top10.netflix.com
The film is a heist movie that meets an adventure movie when a most wanted thief and an FBI Profiler team up in an unlikely alliance to catch another elusive master thief….
The Good
I think Ryan Reynolds is a funny guy, I loved Dead Pool; Gal Gadot is Wonder Woman enough said. As for Dwayne Johnson, he has kinda grown on me… So a movie with these three people who are currently topping Hollywood’s heat list, what could possibly go wrong?
It’s a funny movie in an if you try not to think about it too much sort of way… perfect for a restless weekend at home, when you need a background movie to distract you from the blue-ticked conversations on your mobile phone, from people who are out enjoying their weekend while you are home with Red Notice for company.
The pacing is ok and you aren’t likely to fall asleep watching it (if you can suspend your disbelief long enough to get the end..)
The Bad
The movie feels like it was created by a machine learning algorithm after having processed hours of blockbuster movies such as Ocean’s Eleven, Rush Hour, Raiders Of The Lost Arc, National Treasure, Tomb Raider and a couple of heist movies, to churn out something that humans will like…
Red Notice is supposed to be set all over the world, globetrotting from one exotic location to another Rome, Bali, Argentina, … but the visuals don’t quite cut it… (could be because of how the movie was primarily shot in Atlanta and the cast only spent a week doing shooting for some of the international scenes —also yeah COVID and thanks to drone tech and CGI that stitched it up)
The Ugly
I cannot believe that Red Notice cost more than Dune… In what world? Have you watched Dune? I have a review of it. Dune cost $165 million and Red Notice is reported to have cost $200 million.
Maybe its because of the $200 million a significant chunk of the Red Notice production budget went to the salaries of the three principal cast, each pocketing a cool $20 million for their troubles, Dwayne Johnson’s company Seven Bucks Productions produced the movie, so he must have gotten himself a tidy sum too.
For all the money they made, I feel the lead cast didn’t really bring it, they were just being who are they are, (or at least their stereotyped performances)
Dwayne Johnson was being the strong hero type and Ryan Reynolds being Dead Pool and Gal Godat being Wonder Woman channelling a sultry Lara Croft auditioning to be a Bond Girl…..
Perharps the plot needed a great calamity that would strengthen the story arcs of the characters, the world wasn’t in danger, there was no supervillain for whom the world was not enough.. all this for a bit of greed and brownie points for the coveted position of being number 1 thief in the world… hmm aight then.
I read on the IMdb Trivia page for Red Notice that Tom Cruise, Nicolas Cage, and Keanu Reeves were considered for a part in the movie…. I wonder if they read the script and turned it down.
Final Thoughts
The meaning and relevance of the movie’s title; ‘Red Notice‘ refers to an Interpol term for formal notification which is issued for its most wanted criminals…
Depending on the seriousness of your movie taste, Red Notice is like a plain avocado, you either hate it or you already like it….
Have you watched it or would watch you it? How do you like your avocado?
~B
Becoming The Muse 
I love avocados but Red Notice was a stale avocado for me. I honestly feel the same with your views. I am shocked it was number one and yet it was meh. I guess having the 3 major superstars was of big help. And yes Ryan was funny as usual.
LikeLiked by 1 person
They definitely milked the hype of having 3 super stars 🤣🤣 financially it was a win but moving forwards it might impact ratings if viewers feel the bar is set low for what makes number one.
😂 stale avocado… But you know they are good for use as a face mask exfoliating things 😁
~B
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have not yet watched this movie, or any movies in a while(because of school stress)……so I guess it’s about time I get back to nomalcy by watching a nice movie, among other things(blogging inclusive).
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah that’s why you been on low profile… Has normalcy returned?
For de-stress purposes this movie has plenty of laughs 🤣🤣
~B
LikeLike
Sign me up, I love these stars
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sure thing
~B
LikeLike
Well with movies having limited theatrical runs and I don’t want to spend $100’s of dollar on every streaming service, I’d say I’ll pass.
LikeLike
I think it’s a good movie because of the initial reviews I thought it would be a lot worse but it was actually watchable. Not the best but not something I didn’t like. It was Netflixes first major movie so I cut them some slack. I’m not an avocado fan though😅
LikeLiked by 2 people
Reviews can stop you from enjoying something that would have otherwise been decent 🤣
And Netflix is making serious moves from when they seemed to specialise in Budget Movie type movies and grown that to some serious contender to Hollywood kudos to them and securing the bag 🤣
~B
LikeLike
LOL. ‘not something I didn’t like’
LikeLiked by 1 person
Honest appraisal…
🤣 the thin between not the best but doesn’t mean you hate it 🤪
~B
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hey, Beaton, interesting review (and long time no see.) I’ve noticed this about a lot of recent films myself–it seems like the wildly creative stuff like Newsies or Hunger Games or even Moana is all in the past. Now Disney is only interested in remaking its backlog (and I’m totally boycotting them until they do something that’s actually new), and the rest of Hollywood seems to be putting out retreads like this that are only a little better. And okay, there’s the Squid Game thing, but that doesn’t really appeal to me. I do still need to see Dune, though. I think I’ve put it off because I just don’t want to be disappointed. Hard to see how anything could live up to the book, but I suppose it’s always possible. : )
LikeLiked by 1 person
Been a minute Cathleen 🍵
I kinda liked the Squid Game thing… Watched it before it had gotten crazily overhyped…
Fortunately for me doing things differently this time round watched the movie below while still reading the book only got introduced to it recently and was pleasantly surprised to learn the was a movie adaptation and I went into it without expectations so I wasn’t disappointed soon as am done will do a post on the differences between the books and the movie
~B
LikeLiked by 1 person
I didn’t like the trailer and I will not be seeing the movie. My thoughts (after watching the trailer) are exactly like yours and other people’s whose opinions I value. I want a good movie and not something that fits the agenda. There’s too many of those movies for me…
I do like avocado with a pinch of salt. mmmmm
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s pretty much what you see is what you get 🤣 and it’s an excellent background diversion
How about avocado with a pinch of sugar?
~B
LikeLiked by 3 people
Avocado with sugar? Are you insane?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know someone who adds a pinch of salt with a dash of salt to avocado 🤣🤣
~B
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m assuming you meant sugar the second time around? I’ve seen people do salt and pepper but never sugar.
LikeLike
Dwayne Johnson has also grown on me and that perhaps is the roles he takes. I’m going to watch this movie and see how it goes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Awesome!!!
When you watch it would love to know your thoughts
~B
LikeLike
It was a good movie actually. Watched it today. Surprisingly these three worked well together and Ryan Reynolds was on top of his game with his sense of humour. I liked the way everything was far fetched and also liked the twists with crosses and double crosses.
LikeLike