Considering I had last week off I watched more films over this last weekend than I did during the rest of my holiday. One of them was a film Mrs Screen Room Movie Podcast has been going on about for a while.
Red Notice (2021)
This is one of the few films I’ve watched knowing nothing about going in, and I think that added to my enjoyment of it.
If you haven’t seen it, it’s an action/adventure/crime/comedy starring Dwayne Johnson (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle), Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool) and Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman) among others.
Here’s a short and sweet, spoiler-free synopsis:
In the world of international crime, an Interpol agent attempts to hunt down and capture the world's most wanted art thief.
One thing I’ve discovered since starting this page is that finding a film synopsis that does the film justice while at the same time not giving too much away is a rare thing. Unfortunately I’m terrible at summing up what a movie’s about in my own words so I’m sadly at the mercy of Google search. 😭
Bearing that in mind, this synopsis doesn’t do a great job of selling the film. There’s much more to the story, lots more characters and loads of twists and turns along the way that make it worth a watch.
As much as I enjoyed this film (and I really did), for me, it suffers a little from Ryan Reynolds’ tiring style of comedy.
Don’t get me wrong I’m a big Ryan Reynolds fan but since Deadpool proved so popular, largely due to his sarcastic, quick-witted comedy, he seems to have applied it to most of the films he’s been in since and it’s starting to get old.
At the beginning of the film it looks for a moment like we’re going to get a slightly different Ryan Reynolds, but unfortunately it soon becomes apparent that he’s once again playing the same character he’s played in most of his recent movies (Free Guy excluded).
Ryan Reynolds’ humour aside, the movie is definitely worth a watch.
Dwayne Johnson (can I just call him The Rock? It takes less time to type) is on form as the guy who’s tasked with hunting down and capturing Ryan Reynolds’ character, Nolan Booth (and again, there’s way more to it than that). Gal Gadot is her usual gorgeous, yet bad-ass self as another art thief who’s seeking the same piece as Nolan.
It’s got action, comedy, car chases, twists, turns and some good buddy moments between Johnson and Reynolds that kind of reminded me of one of The Rocks earlier films, Welcome to the Jungle (or “The Rundown” depending which country you live in) starring Seann William Scott. There’s also a totally unnecessary and unfunny cameo by Ed Sheeran which you’ll either love or hate.
All in all though and despite my grumbles, I recommend giving this a go. It’s an enjoyable watch. 👍
It’s currently streaming on Netflix.
Seen it? Let me know what you think. 👇