Red Notice - Netflix

EoinMcLovin · 02-09-2021 2:51pm #1

The official “Red Notice” synopsis from Netflix reads:

“When an Interpol-issued Red Notice — the highest level warrant to hunt and capture the world’s most wanted — goes out, the FBI’s top profiler John Hartley (Dwayne Johnson) is on the case. His global pursuit finds him smack dab in the middle of a daring heist where he’s forced to partner with the world’s greatest art thief Nolan Booth (Ryan Reynolds) in order to catch the world’s most wanted art thief, ‘The Bishop’ (Gal Gadot). The high-flying adventure that ensues takes the trio around the world, across the dance floor, trapped in a secluded prison, into the jungle and, worst of all for them, constantly into each other’s company.”

pixelburp · 02-09-2021 8:39pm

So ... Hobbs and Deadpool?

Jaysus though, it looks pretty generic. Johnson and Reynolds look to be on total autopilot, which ... sure. If that's enough to entertain then why not I suppose but ... eh, it'll want to be an especially rainy Sunday.

The oddly proud declaration in the trailer this was "written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber" had me go ... who?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rawson_Marshall_Thurber

Writer and director of Dodgeball; a film that college me has some fondness for, to be fair.

JP Liz V1 · 02-09-2021 8:51pm

Hobbs, Deadpool and Wonder Woman, worldwide fun heist, I'm sure a hit

CastorTroy · 02-09-2021 9:08pm

Sure keep it all DC and go with Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and Black Adam.

And did they say there's a jungle in it? Guess that explains Dwayne's involvement

Slydice · 03-09-2021 1:21am

Looks kinda by-the-numbers fast-n-furious actioney.. I'd say it'll do well

Agent Coulson · 03-09-2021 2:19am

First thing I though was this Hobbs chasing down Ryan's other Netflix movie anti hero criminal character from 6 Underground.

JimmyVik · 03-09-2021 9:54am

Is it just me or is anyone else sick of Ryan Reynolds being deadpool in everything now.

Used to like him, but now i cant get over being annoyed whenevr he does that.

pixelburp · 03-09-2021 10:52am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117840902#Comment_117840902

It's a "small doses" for me. Reynolds schtick is funny for a time - and he's an incredibly charming, charismatic and likeable performer - but doing that Bit all the time gets a little tedious. I have wondered if because The Voices was such a huge flop for Reynolds, an attempt to branch out a little, he got scared and decided to double down on a "Brand" that worked.

Dades · 03-09-2021 4:09pm

What the hell. I'm in.

Homelander · 03-09-2021 8:55pm

I like Reynolds, he's pretty one dimensional but to be fair to the guy, he does what he does well and always has done, long before Deadpool. I just saw Free Guy recently and it's a tremendously fun movie that makes the most of him to excellent effect.

I just hope the movie isn't a cheap quick-buck job like Hitmans Bodyguard, I thought that was utterly dreadful. Reynolds was fine, but the movie itself was so uninspired and generic.

KilOit · 03-09-2021 11:01pm

Can't stand Deadpool or most marvel really but I liked him in Buried, I do generally find him funny though

pixelburp · 05-09-2021 11:23am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117843908#Comment_117843908

This was supposed to be a universal movie but Netflix apparently nabbed the rights. Google says the budget is 160-200 million! That's some cheddar for something that looks so generic. Netflix must be hoping for some star power fuelled viral or subscription bumps, presumably they paid at fair percentage of that budget for the rights?. I think Bright did well for them, while IIRC 6 Underground kinda flopped. Their dabbling with blockbusters have had mixed success IMO.

EoinMcLovin · 25-09-2021 8:40pm

https://youtu.be/Yhodo7vwC6E

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Agent Coulson · 21-10-2021 3:14pm

Full trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj0wz7zu3Ms

pixelburp · 21-10-2021 4:04pm

Gadot truly is a total charisma vacuum.

Agent Coulson · 05-11-2021 7:31am

The Guardian is giving it 1 star and calls it soulless.

pixelburp · 05-11-2021 9:57am

Getting big 'aul shoulder shrugs from letterboxd reviews trickling in; but hey I suppose if it pulls in a few million more Netflix subscribers it'll be qualified a success?

speedboatchase · 05-11-2021 3:22pm

Why does Netflix bother? The lack of promotion, buzz and overall awareness is insane considering the starpower of the cast. Just stick with TV shows.

JP Liz V1 · 09-11-2021 2:47am

I think also getting limited cinema release

speedboatchase · 09-11-2021 4:38pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118139354#Comment_118139354

It only needs to be in cinemas for one week to make it eligible for below-the-line creative awards at the Oscars. That's all that is.

Agent Coulson · 13-11-2021 7:43am

It's not good.

Another $200m spent on what feels more like pilot episode setting up a series of movies.

Ash.J.Williams · 13-11-2021 7:58am

when you look at the rock and john cena and the likes you really gave appreciate how good Dave Bautista is, he crossed over into acting but comes across as an actual actor with skills, I would just like to acknowledge that:) he doesn’t play the same character every time and puts the effort in

pixelburp · 13-11-2021 8:52am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118159449#Comment_118159449

I think Bautista's ace here is he does a good "haunted"; the other two play big, large characters (literally and metaphorically), that are often leads, whereas Bautista takes these interesting side roles that require an undersold performance. Except for Drax of course, though you could argue he's neither a lead, and the character has a tragic backstory 🙂

Agent Coulson · 13-11-2021 9:23am

Batista looks to me as someone who is trying to learn the craft of acting instead of just being this big guy and that he is happy to be a character actor in major films while working and learning from A list talent both on screen and behind the screen and then take the odd lead in a B movie.

johnny_ultimate · 13-11-2021 11:40am

Personally nothing makes me less interested in watching a film than The Rock’s presence. Everything about his screen presence seems too manicured, safe and focus-grouped. That extends even to interviews and social media. He’s a movie star with all the interesting edges and vulnerabilities sanded down. Not that Ryan Reynolds or Gal Gadot will ever have me rushing to the cinema or Netflix either.

Atlantic Dawn · 13-11-2021 5:39pm

Watched this, it's way too long, coming in about 2 hours, easily could have been wrapped up in an hour and a half. There's multiple plots and plot twists, it's a little all over the place. I heard each of the 3 of them got $20 million to do this, I get the impression that if the director wanted them to sit on a chair for the entire 2 hours they would have.

I'd give it a 2 out of 5.

pixelburp · 13-11-2021 7:15pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118159918#Comment_118159918

Which is probably why the tattle of Johnson dabbling in politics won't go away; as you say he's too polished at times. Likeable, but a little inauthentic. And I'll never be able to look at Cena the same after cravenly apologising to China (or rather it's government) for the offence of merely mentioning Taiwan's existence as a country.

JP Liz V1 · 14-11-2021 1:58am

It has the biggest opening day in Netflix film history

johnny_ultimate · 14-11-2021 9:38am

Well Netflix has simply invented its own secretive, weird barometers for ‘success’ so their internal records don’t really mean anything at all.

pixelburp · 14-11-2021 6:50pm

I'll say one thing for other Netflix blockbuster attempts like Bright: at least there was a head-turning concept powering that particular dud. Red Notice was just ... so transparently low effort. There wasn't a single set piece, a single twist or directorial flourish that betrayed even an ounce of enthusiasm.

Gadot, Johnson and Reynolds must be laughing all the way to the bank, having had to expend this little energy for that much (rumoured) money. Netflix truly are fools with their chequebooks. The high pay packets might also explain why the film looked so damn cheap.

Even watched with the context of a lazy Sunday afternoon couldn't flatter this long, wet raspberry of a film.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118163725#Comment_118163725

And when they are revealed, the metrics for "watched" can be as laughable as a minimum of 2 minutes runtime.

FortuneChip · 15-11-2021 1:15pm

It's fairly meh. There's nothing remotely interesting or memorable in it.

I'd agree on the points around Dwayne Johnson, he's almost too safe.

Also a bit glad to see Ryan Reynolds' supposed break for acting, he's basically played the same character for the last few years. A break might help him take a look and decide what he wants to do long-term.

Dades · 16-11-2021 10:32am

I'd have been tempted to agree with a lot of the scorn for this movie, had I not watched it on Friday night with a bottle of wine and enjoyed it thoroughly. Long week, finally got time to myself late Friday, and this just fit perfectly with what my head needed.

miamee · 16-11-2021 11:26am

Mindless, harmless, mildly entertaining. I enjoyed it when watching but I will never feel the need to watch it again 😄

TheIrishGrover · 16-11-2021 11:45am

I live all three actors but this just looks SO cookie-cutter "Meh". I mean I'll give it a go. I'm already paying for Netflix. But it wouldn't have enticed me to the cinema.

While tonally and story-wise it is NOTHING like "Night at the Museum" it reminds me of it: A stellar cast in a movie WAAAAAAAY less than its parts

sydthebeat · 16-11-2021 11:47am

its a bit of fun.

dont go looking for plot holes or character development

pixelburp · 16-11-2021 11:53am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118173796#Comment_118173796

Honestly, I'd say "go find something else"; it was so intentionally low effort, it almost felt like time wasted (which is a thing for us, when movie time basically amounts to "when our kid naps upstairs for a couple of hours" lol). Nobody was trying here, and shouldn't be rewarded for that.

I'd sooner recommend one of those small-scale, B Movie Netflix Originals like Blood Red Sky than this; not 'cos it was a better movie but at least there's a story idea you felt people wanted to share. It's weird because while Netflix's TV Originals are consistently batting between "watchable" and "outright excellent", their movies are themselves consistently half-ássed to rubbish. Usually just throwing a big star name against a shít script and then sleepwalking the rest.

TheIrishGrover · 16-11-2021 4:02pm

I find this quite interesting. I'm not going to go down the line of "Oh, movies these days" but it has been quite interesting to see, as you say, movies with big names going to the streaming platforms because of Covid which are surprisingly "Meh".

Free Guy on Disney. This Red Notice on Netflix and that Chris Pratt movie on Amazon (Tomorrow War?). I wonder how these would have done had Covid not been a thing. I mean I don't know about Red Notice but Free Guy and Tomorrow War were originally planned for cinema release (Certainly Free Guy was anyway). They would have been quite underwhelming. Without looking at originally-planned dates, they could have been planned as counter-programming. In that many studios release rom-coms around the time of the world cup. I wonder was Free Guy for example originally planned for release at the same time as Dune: Dune taking up the biggest screens and then the family friendly movie to fill in the gap left by other movies not competing with Dune (Again, just an example).

I mean it's not like these are cheap movies. The cast cost alone of that Red Notice must have been 60-70 million. But they are SO bland it is hard not to see them sink without trace in the cinema in a Covid-free world.

ohnonotgmail · 16-11-2021 4:20pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118175610#Comment_118175610

Red Notice has a reported budget of $200M. They must have spent it all on fees for the three stars. they certainly didn't spend it on the script.

TheIrishGrover · 16-11-2021 4:26pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118175715#Comment_118175715

That's what I mean. Remember when it came out that Avatar was something like 180 million?

ohnonotgmail · 16-11-2021 4:27pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118175748#Comment_118175748

yeah but 60M of that 200 went just on the 3 stars.

pixelburp · 16-11-2021 4:36pm

Certainly, there wasn't much left for the FX; the set-pieces, bar some of the one-on-one fights, had really shabby CGI that robbed any sense of tension or danger from the action. The big finale chase was particularly horrible; last time I saw something that bad it was the terrible jungle chase in Crystal Skull.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118175610#Comment_118175610

It's just "Content". That's all Netflix cares about; or at least, the division in charge of these kind of films. There's clearly no effort being made to craft something especially engaging or memorable. Just 2 hours of distraction 'til the algorithm spins up the next thing to watch.

magic_murph · 17-11-2021 10:04am

Fairly poor.

A couple of moments that generate a chuckle - not a laugh but more a chuckle.

I feel like I have seen this movies 50 times elsewhere.

Terrible CGI and and Greenscreen moments that could easily be avoided. Not sure how a movie with a 200 million budget can have such terrible effects.

It will pass 2 hours some evening but I doubt you will be happy you spent 2 hours on this muck.

Homelander · 21-11-2021 3:03pm

It was actually not quite as bad as I expected from the harsher reviews, I found it fairly watchable with a few cheap laughs and the cast have reasonable charisma.

However the harsher critics aren't wrong either - it is pretty weak and incredibly uninspired, really for a $200m film it's downright bad actually, I'm a lot more forgiving from the living room armchair than I would have been in the cinema.

CGI was extremely subpar for a film with that production budget, strong whiff of video-game off a lot of it and really jarring green screen. Would have looked considerably worse on a cinema screen.

Also in reference to a comment above - Free Guy was in cinemas everywhere including the US. It is also a ton better than Red Notice. Tomorrow War was a complete turkey, the worst of all 3 in my opinion.

pixelburp · 21-11-2021 9:21pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118201164#Comment_118201164

If this Variety article is to be believed, tens of millions went on wages for the 3 stars, and even 10 mil to the director - so realistically, the budget was probably closer to $100 million. Would explain the sloppy, subpar FX

https://variety.com/2019/film/news/red-notice-dwayne-johnson-gal-gadot-ryan-reynolds-netflix-1203262879/

orecir · 22-11-2021 12:32am

Absolute scutter

Sad Professor · 01-12-2021 6:47am

Shocked that this cost $200m (and the director suggests it was way more, at least 250). Apart from the actors it looks cheap, like a tv pilot as said above. Dune by comparison cost 165m. Always amazed at how Netflix burn through so much money without managing to get any of it up on screen.