Beneath Notice

I pretty much forgot that I had watched Red Notice (2021) and that I should blog it. It's a Netflix special - big names, looks like a movie, but something hollow at the core. 

It starts in a museum in Rome. FBI agent Dwayne Johnson and Interpol officer Ritu Arya are concerned that the Egg MacGuffin is going to be stolen by famed jewel thief Ryan Reynolds. And so it comes to pass, leading to a long chase through the museum and adjacent Rome. I mainly mention this because there is a scaffold fight - not as great as the one in Shang Chi, but OK. It lets the movie display its sources. Sadly, they are things other movies do better.

Reynolds gets away to his home in Bali, but Interpol crashes in and retrieves the egg. But other international jewel thief, Gal Gadot, AKA the Bishop, is masquerading as a member of the Interpol team, and she makes off with the egg.

Reynolds goes to a remote Russian prison, and Arya puts Johnson there as well, for good measure. So they decide to band together to get the egg and it's partner (needed for the full set). They will be working against or teaming up with Gadot to get these eggs. But someone may not be what they seem. Maybe everyone.

This is not a bad movie. I'll buck the trend and say that I like Gal Gadot - she may have limited range, but in that range, she's great. Johnson does what he does best here, and so does Reynolds. Of course, Reynolds wisecracks his way through the movie, and gets pretty meta. He calls the egg the MacGuffin, for goodness sake. He says things like, "This is the part where we have a big chase" nd so on. If you like Reynolds, you'll like this. But don't expect anything new or interesting. 

I'm just here for the scaffolding fight.