Review | Netflix movie review: Red Notice – Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot in glossy but forgettable art heist movie

Art heist movies should be glamorous and sexy - think The Thomas Crown Affair or Entrapment – but this one is dull and tedious

The chemistry is non-existent between Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot, who all bring along their usual shtick, and the terrible script doesn’t help

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Ryan Reynolds (left) and Dwayne Johnson in a still from Red Notice, directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber and co-starring Gal Gadot. Photo: Netflix

Published: 2:00pm, 4 Nov 2021

2/5 stars

A slick but empty-headed art heist movie, Red Notice begins with an explanation: a “red notice” is the highest-level Interpol “wanted” rating. In this case, the pan-European criminal investigatory body is targeting Nolan Booth (Ryan Reynolds), a highly competent thief and lock-picker who has already managed to escape incarceration six times.

When FBI profiler John Hartley (Dwayne Johnson) tracks him down to a museum in Rome, Nolan is midway through pulling off his latest scam – involving a jewel-encrusted golden egg the size of a rugby ball from ancient Egypt. After a rooftop chase in which Nolan escapes, Hartley tracks him down to Bali, but evidence points to Hartley being in on the scam and both are sent to a grim-looking Russian prison.

As becomes clear, Nolan isn’t the only thief in town. Svelte-looking schemer The Bishop (Gal Gadot) has been manipulating events as she tries to track down two more of these priceless eggs for a billionaire who is planning to gift them to his very spoilt daughter. The trouble is that only Nolan knows where the third egg is, leading to a stand-off.

Directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, who worked with Johnson on both Central Intelligence and Skyscraper, this is one of those films that looks expensive – fast cars, glamorous locations, A-list lifestyles. But there is nothing of substance here. The film globe-trots, everywhere from Valencia to Cairo, but it’s difficult to say if the production went to any of these exotic locales.