Red Notice

I knew I would love this movie as soon as it opened with an Ancient Aliens spoof and closed with Biggie’s “Notorious B.I.G.” Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds, portraying a cop and an art thief, respectively, merely saw it through. They played the “unwilling partners in crime” trope to perfection. Just think Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer in The Man From U.N.C.L.E.–on a cheaper budget.

The story follows INTERPOL criminal profiler (or is he?) John Hartley and art thief extraordinaire Nolan Booth, who are unwittingly thrown together in search of some priceless and ancient artifacts. But it was such a treat that the film added more than a few twists to keep us still on our toes in a very tired genre. (Let’s just say there are double, triple, and quadruple agents that you won’t be able to guess.) Things may get a little too far-fetched for some people’s liking, such as how the pair end up somehow, someway in a bull-fighting ring or that a cop is seemingly willing to shoot at other cops. But in my view, it’s all part of the Dwayne Johnson experience: grandiose silliness that finds a way to work.

Truthfully, though, the flick probably wouldn’t have been quite as enjoyable without Ryan Reynolds’ signature deadpan humor and the snappy dialogue. To whittle it down to the one best delivery line is, sincerely, very difficult because it is non-stop. But I’ll have to go with Booth saying that the back of The Rock’s head looks like a “huge penis.” The Rock goes tit-for-tat with him, with his typical broad confidence and resurrected black turtleneck. All in all, their comedic charms are just as good as any duo, but another close comparison would be Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy in The Heat. And, as an added bonus, villainy looks real good on Gal Gadot as “The Bishop.”