Becoming The Muse

Lift Movie Review

Lift is a 2024 American heist comedy film starring Kevin Hart who is also one of the producers. The movie was released on Netflix on 12 January 2024.

The movie follows an international thief and his crew as they attempt to make a 500 million dollar gold heist from a plane — 40,000 feet in the air.

The Good

Kevin Hart playing a character that’s different from his usual goofy, comedic sidekick role…  Kevin is cast as Cyrus a competent, charming and no nonsense leader of a crackpot band of merry thieves who only still from those who deserve it…

Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Abby, an Interpol agent who has had a previous off screen entanglement with Kevin Hart radiates some show stealing chemistry easily owning the scenes both actors share the screen.

The underrated star of Lift is Billy Magnussen as Magnus, a safecracker who is effortlessly hilarious during his screen time which though limited might as well as have been a totally different movie with a different aesthetic existing in a parallel universe.

Like any heist movie, Lift brings together a cast and crew with unique skillsets tasked to do what they do best resulting in show stopping action and edge of seat tense moments as they try to execute a next to impossible heist….

The Bad

Its yet another heist movie, feels like watching a fusion between Oceans 11, Fast and Furious movies as well The Italian Job, which is unsurprising since it’s the director also worked on The Italian job as well as the 8^th instalment of the The Fast and Furious movies.

Lift isn’t genre breaking nor genre blurring and instead you get what you get a – a team of high-tech thieves pulling of impossible heists — setting aside the improbabilities of the plot and how in depth analysis of the convoluted storyline would expose glaring plot holes to which we suspend disbelief to… what was the whole thing with the NFTs?

Lift has an interesting cast but they arent utilised fully for example Gugu as Abby the Interpol agent is mostly kept as a love interest damsel in distress even though she would have outshone the lead given a tweak in plot and character…

The Ugly

Lift lacks any sense of tension or excitement, as the characters are never in any real danger or face any consequences for their actions diluting the high-stakes feel of the heist.

In light of the of the Katt Williams interview in which he flung a lot of dirt as to how undeserving actors get multiple leading opportunities hinting at how Kevin has gotten movie contracts lined up not because of talent – but by conforming to a system that rewards its patrons one cant help wonder how Kevin Hart keeps landing role after role and this one not being one of his best—Kevin Hart shines when he is being the funny goofball…

Final Thoughts

It’s a fun movie to watch if you have time to kill and looking for a way to spend it, without breaking a sweat figuring out whats going on in a movie…

Have you watched Lift? Do you prefer Kevin Hart in movies as a funny fast-talking character such as The Man From Toronto or the more composed serious one.