RED NOTICE: Netflix's "Marriage of Convenience" Movie (VIDEO SCRIPT)

Today on Film Friday, I take a look at the Netflix original movie, Red Notice. Let’s begin.

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/Red Notice is a 2021 action-adventure heist comedy released on Netflix after acquiring it from Universal. Written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, it tells the story of FBI profiler John Hartley and renown art thief Nolan Booth -- played by Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds respectively -- reluctantly working together in order to take down the notorious criminal Bishop played by Gal Gadot, before she can acquire the three eggs of Cleopatra and sell them to a billionaire in Cairo for a 300 million dollar payout/

Readers, if I could sum up my initial reaction to this movie when it was first announced in one word, that one word would have to be...uninterested.

Not “my initial interest in this movie was a bit low” like how it was with Free Guy, but just full-blown disinterest the moment it was announced

Nothing about the trailers or the promotional material struck me when I saw it, and the cast was actually one of the biggest turn-offs for me.

Not because they’re bad, but because it was Gal, Ryan and ESPECIALLY Dwayne, I had an idea of what to expect if I DID watch this movie, and I didn’t like it.

But now that the movie is out and I’ve watched it, I would like to come out and say that I was...SLIGHTLY correct in my original decision to leave this movie be.

Don’t worry, I have every intention of explaining why.

So to be fair, I feel that it’s necessary for me to say that I enjoyed the overall premise of the film.

As a fan of Indiana Jones-style relic hunter adventure movies -- both in movie and video game format -- the overall hunt for the three eggs was very fun to watch.

Ryan Reynolds’ character Nolan kinda helped provide that for me in a lot of ways.

/Part of it is due to his character’s ability to find ways of escaping prison, which helped made the Russian prison breakout scene enjoyable to watch, another being his thoroughness in planning his break-ins and heists and watching them go down, and his overall connection to the eggs in general thanks to his backstory made his hunt for them feel more compelling./

That’s partly why I think it was a good idea to take the movie in a buddy-cop direction regarding Dwayne and Ryan’s characters in this film, as opposed to just John chasing Nolan throughout.

Well, buddy-THIEF direction, but you knew what I was talking about.

Honestly, turning the beat around so that the actual law enforcer is on the side of the convict, I thought was a very nice subversion of the movie 48 Hours -- the very first buddy cop movie -- where Eddie Murphy’s Reggie Hammond is a con man being forced to work with Nick Nolte’s officer Jack Cates in order to find the people who killed a couple of cops.

/How it’s reflected in Red Notice however, is that after Bishop frames John Hartley for the theft of the first egg after she steals it from Interpol when arresting Nolan, they end up being bunkmates at the prison he’s sent to in Russia. And in order to get his name cleared, John has to help Nolan steal the eggs from Bishop and find the elusive third egg before she does. It’s a very clever role reversal of how 48 Hours used the plot point, while also allowing the possibility of a strong bond to form between the two as they open up to each other over the course of the adventure/

Does the story have that ability within it for these two characters to form that Riggs-Murtaugh relationship? Absolutely.

/Thanks to Nolan’s characterization being a heavy part of the story’s plot and John’s ability to analyze individuals, this story and its beats can provide a perfect opportunity to not only be a fun action crossover of a heist and mcguffin hunt movie./

And plot twist aside -- because I truly believe it has within it the potential to still work this way even when it’s revealed at the end of the movie -- the only thing that’s truly keeping this movie from fully accomplishing that goal, is the main cast of Dwayne, Ryan and Gal. Because nobody in this movie is actually acting.

Ryan Reynolds and Dwayne Johnson are basically playing themselves, as per usual. Or, considering everything, they’re playing the brands of themselves that the world has come to know them as, and I think that’s pretty obvious when you watch the movie.

/Not only that, but the way the movie plays out both in its narrative and editing, does them both a GREAT disservice because of how easy the film overall allows them to be that way, despite the nuggets within the script that allow themselves to be challenged./

Ryan has shown that he’s capable of stepping out of his comfort zone and portray stellar performances that aren’t typecast to his ability of portraying wit and sarcasm before.

I should know; I recently watched and enjoyed one of them.

/Yet despite the delve into his character that the movie is forced to explore thanks to its plot, this was pretty much original recipe Ryan, and I wish that there was a bit more of an effort for Nolan’s character./

What’s heartbreaking about it, is that there was SO much potential in Nolan’s character in order for this to happen because of what was present.

/Everything about his relationship with his dad and how it got him into being a thief was so well executed and evenly spread over the course of the story. Add that to his eagerness and desire to be the number one art thief in the world along with the moments he THOUGHT he was bonding with John, and this could’ve been one of Ryan’s best roles since Wade Wilson...if he just didn’t take the easy way out and resort to cranking his default snark and sass to the usual 85%/

And speaking of John Hartley, that critique ESPECIALLY goes DOUBLE for Dwayne. Because OH MY GOD

So John Hartley is Dwayne Johnson. Again

Just like Rampage’s David Okoye was Dwayne, just like Faster’s Jimmy Cullen was Dwayne, just like Fast and Furious’ Luke Hobbs was Dwayne, just like Jungle Cruise’s Francisco de Heredia was Dwayne, you get it...

/What separates Dwayne playing himself in this movie versus Ryan playing himself in this movie is that unlike Nolan, John feels as if he were written with very minimal personality so that it can be easy for Dwayne to project his own into it/

And I wouldn’t have a problem with that, if this wasn’t the case for the majority of the roles he’s had since he started acting.

/Even if you take into account the twist reveal regarding John’s character, it’s still The Rock playing the version of himself that he’s been branding to the world ever since he decided to give up on his hairline./

And while I understand that some people who’ve seen Red Notice might not feel like this is the right movie for him to put his actual acting chops to the test because of the genre being action and comedy...

I would have to argue that the Lethal Weapon franchise is in the same category, and both Danny Glover and Mel Gibson gave great performances of characters with their own distinct personalities and quirks outside of the ones that they’re known for presenting to the public

And if THEY can do it, then Dwayne can DEFINITELY do it. And I KNOW Dwayne can do it, because he’s taken on roles in which he HAD to.

I just wish he takes more jobs with scripts and directors that actively CHALLENGES him as an actor, instead of allowing him to stay within his comfort zone

Yes, even his CONTRACTUALLY obligated comfort zone

Gal Gadot in this meanwhile is...a bit of an enigma?

Like, because I’ve only seen her be pretty in the Fast and Furious movie she’s done and Diana in the DC Extended Universe, I don’t have an overall feel of her range

/And all she really gave in this movie was...neutral sass?/

I will say that thanks to the Wonder Woman films, I’m aware that Gal has a good range of acting capabilities that have proven to be a bit better than Dwayne’s. Not a BROAD one, but a GOOD one.

After all, I’ve not only seen her cry on film, but I believed it when I saw it. Which is a HELL of a lot more range than I’ve seen from Dwayne.

Actually, now that I think about it, I wouldn’t be surprised if we found out that there are clauses in his movie contracts that deliberately keep him from displaying emotions on screen that society has labeled as weak.

/The thing about Gadot however, is that there were plenty of opportunities that she could’ve been intimidating or threatening and never took advantage of them. Hell, she BARELY utillized her character’s sex appeal when the movie highlighted it; it was always the characters AFFECTED by her giving us basically nothing./

While neutral sass is definitely something that she’s never displayed in a film I’ve seen her in before, it doesn’t really stick out as something unique to this character because both Dwayne and Ryan are putting their branded personas into the characters they’re portraying

SO much so, that the collaborative basicness of the character portrayals makes the points that the movie COULD’VE helped better flesh these characters out null and void.

It makes all three characters in the film appear as if they were nothing but blank slates personality-wise to the point where anyone can apply anything to the characters despite what the script set up for them, and it still work if the actor in question has enough natural charm

/BECAUSE of that, it makes Red Notice exactly what they described John and Nolan’s relationship as during their partnership; a marriage of convenience./

Red Notice is your religiously eaten go-to Friday dinner. In my case, it’s a Medium-rare steak, salted spinach and smashed potatoes with garlic when I feel bothered to add it.

The dish is good and you enjoy everything it has to offer, but that doesn’t mean that you’ve not only never had it plenty of times before in the past, but that you wouldn’t mind a bit of variants of it from time to time, either.

The story of Red Notice is the overall dish, presenting a tried and true premise with the potential of providing a very unique twist on an old favorite.

However, because there’s no variety in the protein or its side dishes -- especially if you know how versatile they can actually be in order to make them pop -- it’s just the same old thing that you’ve had every Friday, and will probably CONTINUE to have every Friday.

If you are one of those individuals, then by all means; continue to have your steak, potatoes and spinach; you will definitely enjoy Red Notice for what it is.

/And while I was able to enjoy it, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hoping for...something more./

Right now you can stream Red Notice EXCLUSIVELY on Netflix

So with that being said Readers, your homework assignment for the day:

Write in the comment section below what you thought of Red Notice if you’ve seen it.

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But until then, this is Readus 101. Class dismissed.