Red Notice

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Netflix originals are pretty interesting altogether. They started out as very "straight-to-TV" quality films, but as time has gone on (and other streaming services have blossomed), Netflix is one that seems to keep progressing in quality, and keeping up with its competition. While Disney+ is great for big budget quality, and Amazon is great for story (usually), Netflix does a great job of meeting it all in the middle most of the time.

'Red Notice' was one that caught my eye, mostly due to the cast seen on the movie poster. I almost always have fun when Dwayne Johnson is involved, I DO always have fun when Ryan Reynolds is involved, and it's an opportunity to see Gal Gadot in something where she isn't Wonder Woman (although that first film is still awesome). On top of that, director Rawson Marshall Thurber is an interesting specimen - directing movies like 'We're the Millers' and 'Dodgeball', and even playing the Subway Guy in 'Easy A'. Being a fan of all of this, it was a bit of a no-brainer for me to check it out.

We start off with a tale of love taking place in ancient Egypt, where Marcus Antonius presents Cleopatra with three bejeweled eggs as a wedding gift. Two of these eggs are eventually found in 1907, but the third remains a mystery. In present day, FBI Agent John Hartley (Johnson) is assigned to help Interpol agent Urvashi Das (Ritu Arya) with investigating a possible theft involving one of the eggs, which resides at the Museo Nazionale di Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome. This is where he runs into professional art thief, Nolan Booth (Reynolds), who manages to take the egg. However, after a good, long chase, Hatley manages to place him under arrest, and take the egg back.

This, however, leads to two unfortunate things for Hartley. On one hand, the egg is unknowingly stolen again by other professional art thief, Sarah Black (Gadot), also known as "The Bishop". This leads to Das' mistrust of Hartley, and placing him under arrest, as he looks so suspicious. And then that leads to Hartley sharing a cell with Booth where eventually they end up working together. Hartley can bring down the Bishop once and for all, while Hartley promises Booth that he'd gain a reputation as the world's greatest art thief. Plus if, if they can find all three eggs and deliver them to an Egyptian billionaire by his daughter's wedding, there's plenty of wealth to be had in rewards.

All in all, this feels like your average summer blockbuster to me. It uses the "buddy" formula, there's a whole lot of suspension of disbelief necessary. But in the long run, I have to say that this is a fun action, crime comedy where Reynolds and Rocky actually play very well off each other. Think about what it would look like to see the 'Fast & Furious' Hobbs teamed up with Deadpool, because that's essentially what you get here. That may not be the greatest combo for some, as their characters may feel a touch redundant altogether, but I had a lot of fun with this despite any problems it may have had.

4/5

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