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 
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