Director: Jon Watts
Starring: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jacob Batalon, Jon Favreau, Jamie Foxx, Alfred Molina, Marisa Tomei
Certificate: 12A
Run Time: 148 mins

Spider-Man: No Way Home is not just the latest in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but a culmination of the live-action films to date to feature the webbed slinger. Both director Jon Watts and Spider-Man star Tom Holland return for this third entry in the MCU-positioned trilogy. Spider-Man: Homecoming was a surprisingly excellent first solo outing, with a John Hughes feel and a menacing villain in Michael Keaton’s Vulture. Sadly, despite critical acclaim, I found the follow-up Spider-Man: Far From Home to be an abomination. It strikes an incredibly smug tone and completely wastes Jake Gyllenhaal as a villain. Naturally, there was a sense of trepidation heading into Spider-Man: No Way Home. 

The film opens immediately at Far From Home’s close when Spider-Man’s identity of Peter Parker is revealed to the world. No Way Home explores the prospect of the Multiverse, first introduced in Avengers: Endgame, when Peter Parker asks Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to make the population forget the impromptu identity reveal. The spell goes awry as Peter realises he doesn’t want his close friends, MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon) to forget his identity. Thus, Spider-Man villains from the Sam Raimi and Marc Webb era inadvertently enter the fray, such as Doc Ock (Alfred Molina) and Electro (Jamie Foxx). 

Spider-Man: No Way Home is a mostly thrilling ride with some excellent surprises in its narrative. It perfectly melds with the Raimi and Webb era and irreverently integrates the included villains with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film clearly takes inspiration from Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, which was rapturously received and although I admired the film’s effort to metatextualise its story, it runs into a raft of problems. 

No Way Home features some excellent interactions between characters, particularly in the second act, and the script penned by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers is sharp. It is not an easy task to meld the past and present in a film, with other tentpole films such as Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker cheaply capitalising on nostalgia. 

No Way Home naturally barrels towards a large CGI set piece in the final act, which is well-handled due to some plot revelations that allow the film to explore what it means to be Spider-Man. The narrative choices are generally well-judged and attempts to mirror or contrast other entries in the MCU or prior Spider-Man films. 

The performances are generally excellent – Holland is genuine as the webbed slinger and the film reminds us that he is still a developing teenager as he makes some poor choices. This is the best Zendaya has been in the trilogy as MJ and both actors share a palpable chemistry. Molina and Foxx’s villains receive interesting developments and aren’t just featured as one-dimensional villains. Foxx received mixed reviews for his performance as Electro in the divisive The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which I preferred more than most, and this is less risky. I would like to comment on other performances but to do so would be to spoil some surprises. 

As for the film’s low points, Jon Watts’ direction is again, anonymous and he doesn’t allow any of his personality to shine through. Watts knows how to create an atmosphere with both Clown and Cop Car interesting and gritty pieces of work but with all three of his Spider-Man films, his authorship has been sucked into the Marvel vacuum. No Way Home could have been directed by anyone. 

Michael Giacchino’s score isn’t particularly memorable and while he briefly revisits his own themes from previous entries and Doctor Strange, as well as those by Danny Elfman and Hans Zimmer from previous Spider-Man films, there’s not a lot of substance to the score. 

Spider-Man: No Way Home is a satisfying round-up to the trilogy and amalgamation of the entire MCU and Spider-Man oeuvre thus far. It’s a relief that it takes some narrative risks and takes its time to focus on character interactions compared to the cynical tone of Far From Home. I’m not sure how well No Way Home will hold up to repeat viewings, as a lot of the film rests on its narrative surprises, but on an initial viewing, it’s a thoroughly entertaining ride with unexpected depth in places. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Excellent)

Director: Maggie Gyllenhaal
Starring: Olivia Colman, Dakota Johnson, Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Dagmara Dominczyk, Jack Farthing, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Peter Sarsgaard, Ed Harris
Certificate: 15
Run Time: 121 mins

The Lost Daughter is the directorial debut from actress Maggie Gyllenhaal based on a 2006 novel of the same name by Elena Ferrante. It follows a middle-aged professor Leda Caruso who is holidaying in Greece. She is clearly carrying a lot of emotional baggage and we learn that she’s had a rocky relationship with her children due to her finding motherhood unwieldy. When she is resting on a beach, a fellow holidaymaker Nina (Dakota Johnson) notices her young child goes momentarily missing. Leda finds her and reunites her with her mother but the girl has lost her prized doll, which causes her distress. It is revealed that Leda has taken the doll, for god knows whatever reason, and is a theme that recurs time and again throughout. Gyllenhaal explores the parallels with Leda’s complicated experiences in her life with her Greek holiday. 

The Lost Daughter is a strange film and whilst it’s never boring, I struggled to connect with the characters. Whilst Olivia Colman’s performance is typically excellent as Leda, her character is deeply troubled and unlikeable. That’s not a problem in itself as there are plenty of excellent deceitful characters in film but Gyllenhaal fails to fully explore the ideas she sets up. There are some interesting notions on motherhood, such as the under-explored idea that a mother may not always like her children, which the film is on the cusp of unpacking.

Jesse Buckley plays Leda in her younger years and like Colman, has received lots of awards attention for her performance. I thought Buckley’s performance was terrible. Her British accent constantly slips and slides and she’s totally unconvincing as a young mother.  Of the rest of the cast, Ed Harris is fine but isn’t given a great deal to work with and Dakota Johnson is underused as the young mother and her difficult familial situation is also under-explored. 

Whilst The Lost Daughter is far from a conventional debut in its ambitious narrative and unsettling tone, Gylllenhaal’s debut is ultimately disappointing in that it fails to fully explore its themes. I’m surprised the film has resonated with critics as much as it has. The Lost Daughter is drawn-out, tedious and unfortunately doesn’t hang together. 

⭐⭐ (Poor)

Director: Benjamin Cleary
Starring: Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, Awkwafina, Glenn Close, Adam Beach, Dax Rey
Certificate: 15
Run Time: 112 mins

Swan Song is a sci-fi drama directed by Irish filmmaker Benjamin Cleary, of which this is his first feature-length film. He had previously directed the short film Stutterer, which earned him an Oscar. 

Cameron Turner (Mahershala Ali) is a graphic designer and father who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. He has a relatively quiet relationship with his wife, Poppy (Naomie Harris) and his young son, Hugo (Dax Rey). He cannot bear the thought of his family grieving for him and he is approached by a technology company led by the enigmatic Dr Scott (Glenn Close). Turner is offered the opportunity to have a clone of him replicated that could replace Turner in his home and the clone would be imperceptible to his family. He would then live the rest of his days on the remote island owned by the company. Scott explains to Turner that he would be the third subject to be cloned and he is invited to meet Kate (Awkwafina), who is also suffering from the debilitating effects of a terminal illness whose clone is happily integrated in reality.

Swan Song’s fascinating premise makes for a strong foundation. If you knew your time on earth was limited and an undetectable clone could be created that allows your family to be happy, what option would you take?

Swan Song poses many thoughtful questions and is a sci-fi that possesses more brain than brawn. Like its protagonist, its tone is meditative and unassuming. The film is clinically lensed by Masanobu Takayanagi and he captures the melancholic atmosphere of the remote island particularly crisply, an island visually divorced from reality.

Mahershala Ali gives a typically reliable dual performance as Cameron and his clone. There are some solid performances from the rest of the cast too. Glenn Close is excellent as the direct pioneering scientist who lacks empathy and the film offers a very different dual role for Awkwafina to play but she nails it. It’s also great to see Hostiles and Suicide Squad actor Adam Beach in a film with a meatier role than he normally receives, as Close’ psychologist assistant. 

Swan Song doesn’t quite manage to hit its stride that its premise suggests and it can be languorous and a little repetitive in places. It would benefit from trimming twenty minutes or so to allow it a harder-hitting edge. The musical choices by Jay Wadley are also rather jarring and don’t particularly mesh with the events on-screen. 

It may not quite live up to the lofty potential of the narrative but Swan Song is a solid and cerebral sci-fi that makes for an assured debut from the filmmaker. 

⭐⭐⭐ (Good)

Director: Nora Fingscheidt
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Vincent D’Onofrio, Jon Bernthal, Richard Thomas, Linda Emond, Aisling Franciosi, Rob Morgan, Viola Davis
Certificate: 15
Run Time: 114 mins

The Unforgivable is an American feature film adaptation of a 2009 British television series called Unforgiven. The film is directed by Nora Fingscheidt in her English-language debut, with her first film Systemcrasher in her native Germany. Fingscheidt relocates the action to Seattle, which is portrayed in an unrelentingly grim light, far removed from its coffee, alternative rock and literature culture. The film’s spent a fairly long time in development limbo, with Angelina Jolie attached at one point to star and Scott Frank to direct. 

Sandra Bullock plays Ruth Slater, an unkempt and shaky individual who is released from prison in the opening moments of the film after serving twenty years for murdering a sheriff who tried to evict her, as well as her younger sister, Katie, from a former property. Slater moves into a hostel and immediately takes up two jobs to make ends meet  so she can rebuild her life, as well as locate her estranged sister. 

Katie (Aisling Franciosi) lives with her foster parents (Richard Thomas and Linda Emond) and sister Emily (Emma Nelson), who have withheld her origins from her, although she has flashes of trauma. Ruth finds herself drawn to her old house to begin her search, where she meets current inhabitant lawyer John Ingram (Vincent D’Onofrio), his wife Liz (Viola Davis) and two teenage boys. After a chain of events, Ruth asks John to help her locate her sister.  

The Unforgivable is an entertaining enough drama with a committed Sandra Bullock performance who excels in carrying Slater’s world-weariness and emotional baggage. She looks chronically tired and scatty, walking a capricious line between survival and homelessness. There are some other solid performances too, Aisling Franciosi continuing to prove a force to be reckoned with even if her character is underdeveloped after her electrifying turn in Jennifer Kent’s haunting Australian revenge drama The Nightingale. Vincent D’Onofrio and Viola Davis’ performances are typically excellent but their characters also underdeveloped. 

Unfortunately, Fingscheidt doesn’t master the dour tone the story requires to match its harsh setting. The storytelling is contrived and predictable and races through it in its sub two hour run time. The script warrants a longer run time to really breathe and a more tactful tone, as the film borders on laughable in its third act and there are multiple instances where characters change their minds over weighty decisions in seemingly seconds. Scott Frank would have been a terrific pick if he had stuck in the director’s chair – A Walk Among The Tombstones oozes with substance in its tone, as do his television efforts, Godless and The Queen’s Gambit. 

The film seems a strange pick for Hans Zimmer to choose to score, who collaborates with David Fleming. The score is disappointing as it’s not memorable and isn’t well utilised in how it meshes with the events on-screen. Luckily, Guillermo Navarro’s cinematography fares better, offering the film a bleak and muted aesthetic. 

The Unforgivable is fine in the moment but it’s shame that Fingscheidt’s direction is undercooked and the film struggles to justify its existence in a heavily crowded genre. The film is held together mainly by its performances and whilst the story is reasonably gripping, other than one minor twist in the final act, it’s very predictable. 

⭐⭐⭐ (Good)

Director: Guy Ritchie
Starring: Jason Statham, Holt McCallany, Jeffrey Donovan, Josh Hartnett, Laz Alonso, Raúl Castillo, DeObia Oparei, Eddie Marsan, Scott Eastwood
Certificate: 15
Run Time: 119 mins

Wrath of Man is the latest by director Guy Ritchie and reteams the eclectic director with Jason Statham, whose career can be attributed by his star turns in Ritchie’s two earliest features, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. Ritchie’s filmography is a mixed bag – he has strong successes with films such as Sherlock Holmes and The Gentlemen but then there are misfires such as Swept Away and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and then bizarre blockbusters in between with King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and the more family friendly live-action remake of Aladdin. 

Ritchie and Statham return to their roots with Wrath of Man, which is an entertaining yet angry heist thriller that boasts a typically snarky script. Split into four chapters, Statham plays ‘H’, who is hired by Los Angeles security firm Fortico, which transports millions of dollars in cash in its trucks. When H and his colleague, Bullet (Holt McCallany) are ambushed, H demonstrates an expert adeptness with firearms, earning a promotion and credibility within the company. But is H really in it for the job or does he have an ulterior motive? 

Wrath of Man is at its best in its opening act, Ritchie introducing the characters coolly and suitably ramps up the tension after the initial hijacking, that culminating in a desperate and rage-filled event. Statham is reliably solid as a man of few words, although the words that do manage to venture out of his mouth are rich in swagger. The rest of the cast are fine, but there isn’t a great deal of development and it’s a shame to see actors such as Eddie Marsan wasted in small roles. Holt McCallany and Scott Eastwood fare the best out of the supporting cast, McCallany is Statham’s supervisor and Eastwood a psychotic villain. 

The main problem with Wrath of Man is that it’s a film that feels more important than it is. The decision to tell its story in chapters is an acceptable one but the narrative is not as labyrinthine as Ritchie thinks it is to warrant this creative decision. It lacks depth and is mostly all surface. It’s a surprisingly more restrained film stylistically than previous Ritchie efforts in its camera work and editing which is often frenetic. Chris Benstead’s score is excellent though and he crafts some memorable themes, adding a compelling sense of foreboding to the narrative. 

Wrath of Man is ultimately a mid-tier effort from Guy Ritchie. It’s suitably entertaining throughout and has its moments but it’s not particularly memorable and lacks some of Ritchie’s trademark identity that he is famed for. This is a satisfyingly bitter heist film with a committed Jason Statham performance but not a great deal else. 

⭐⭐⭐ (Good)

Director: Jared Bush & Byron Howard
Starring: (voices of) Stephanie Beatriz, Maria Cecilia Botero, John Leguizamo, Mauro Castillo, Jessica Darrow, Angie Cepeda, Carolina Gaitan, Diane Guerrero, Wilmer Valderrama
Certificate: U
Run Time: 102 mins

Encanto represents quite the milestone in that is the 60th film in Disney’s original animated canon. This milestone film follows heroine Mirabel Madrigal, an intelligent and sympathetic young woman living with her family in a magical protected enclave in rural Colombia. The matriarch of the family, Abuela was the first of the family to be bestowed with powers and the magical house was created at the same time as she lost her husband. Each of her children and grandchildren each have a magical power and when they are young, the community gather together in a ceremony where the child puts their hand on a door of the enchanted house which gifts them their skill. Mirabel is the only member of the family to have not been gifted and she lives her life with her family as an outsider and not knowing what to make of her life. As is customary with a film of this type, a crisis occurs and it is up to Mirabel to restore order to the family. Boasting songs penned by Lin-Manuel Miranda (does he ever take a break?!) and its Colombian setting, this sounds like the perfect and diverse recipe for a tentpole Disney release. 

Unfortunately, Encanto is a rare misfire from Disney and lacks the charm of the vast majority of their back catalogue. This is a cynical film that very much feels like a committee effort rather than a film crew, feeling like a box-ticking exercise that doesn’t take any risks. The film squanders its Colombian setting and fails to explore or acknowledge the culture – Encanto could be set anywhere in the world and it wouldn’t matter. 

The main failure of the film is the fact that it lacks a core narrative. There are various subplots that pull the film in different directions, which make it difficult to invest in as it never settles on one through-line tale. The best Disney films boast coherent simplistic stories that lay out the parameters of the world they exist in and fully explore and build upon their setting. 

Encanto is stuffed with musical numbers but unfortunately, the songs aren’t catchy and the lyrics are uninspired, repetitive and frequently baffling. It seems as if Lin-Manuel Miranda is behind every musical at the moment and has a very impressive output of work but the quality just isn’t here. Characters burst into musical rapture at inopportune times about trivial things and this gets grating very quickly. Miranda needs to take a break before he becomes a caricature of himself. 

It’s a shame that this tentpole feature from the revered studio is a disappointment, especially considering the promise of the premise. Encanto is ultimately a half-baked and cloying effort from Disney that lacks an inspirational message and a succinct narrative. Its absence of an identity means I’ll likely forget about it in five minutes. 

⭐⭐ (Poor)

Director: Jane Campion
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Thomasin McKenzie
Certificate: 12A
Run Time: 126 mins

The Power Of The Dog is director Jane Campion’s first feature film since 2009’s Bright Star. Her foray into the Western genre is set in 1920s Montana but filmed in Campion’s native New Zealand. This is an existential piece centred on power dynamics. 

Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch) and George Burbank (Jesse Plemons) both live and run a profitable ranch and are the polar opposite of each other. Phil is a serpent-like, slippery and angry presence who has a disregard for personal hygiene and revels in his unkemptness. George is a more introverted and kind-hearted individual. He doesn’t really fit in with the gang, even though the gang display signs of respect. Phil simultaneously bullies and relies on George, often calling him ‘Fatso’. Phil displays an admiration for Bronco Henry, a figure who we do not see in the film, who acted as a mentor to him and possibly served a more homoerotic function. When their gang dine at an inn run by Rose (Kirsten Dunst), a former cinematic pianist, Phil belittles her effeminate son, Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee) to the point of driving Rose to tears. George comforts her and the pair then fall in love, with Rose ultimately moving in to the house, sending Phil in to a seething, incandescent rage. Phil taunts Rose and has nothing but disdain for her, driving her to the point of alcoholism and depression. This dynamic is further disturbed by Peter, a young adult who struggles to fit in with his homosexuality. He makes paper flowers and is studying to be a surgeon and his arrival at the house marks as a turning point in the relationships between the characters. 

The Power Of The Dog is an atmospheric, slow-burning yet fascinating character study from the revered director. It features some brilliant performances. Benedict Cumberbatch gives possibly a career-best performance as Phil, a man with a masculine crisis. He conveys the seething and bullish nature of the character perfectly, going to great depths with his method acting by chain smoking to the point of nicotine poisoning and refusing to bathe and interact with Kirsten Dunst. A scene mid-way in the film where Rose is practicing the piano for a later dinner is particularly chilling as she struggles to perform the piece and Phil cruelly plays it faultlessly on his banjo out of sight. This is a masterful performance and one of the best of the year. 

Jesse Plemons is reliably strong as George and Kirsten Dunst also makes an impression as Rose, although her character is sidelined as the film progresses. Kodi Smit-McPhee is excellent as Peter, even if he is rather old for the role, but the brilliance of his performance lies in that he doesn’t convey what his character agenda is. Smit-McPhee is no stranger to the Western with his electrifying performance in Slow West. 

Technically, the film is handsomely shot by Ari Wegner, whose captivating vistas of the Western landscape invoke wonder and magic. There is a pensive string-based score by Jonny Greenwood, which brilliantly assists in creating an uneasy atmosphere. 

The Power Of The Dog is an enigmatic experience with powerhouse performances. It is deserving of its praise and the unexpected fierce ending creeps up on you. Although the film is slow in its pacing, the ending asks the audience to reconsider what you have witnessed and you’ll want to watch it again to piece the character motivations, where it is a richer and more multi-layered experience. 

⭐⭐⭐ (Good)

Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons, Salma Hayek, Al Pacino
Certificate: 15
Run Time: 158 mins

House of Gucci is the second of two Ridley Scott offerings this season after The Last Duel. This is a crime biopic with quite the powerhouse cast adapted from a non-fiction book by Sara Gay Forden on Patrizia Reggiani, who was found guilty of arranging the murder of her husband, Maurizio Gucci. It’s a fascinating story which begins with the whirlwind fairytale romance between the two that starts to sour once they involve themselves in Maurizio’s father and uncle’s business. Patrizia forces Maurizio to be cutthroat and has an intuitive business sense even if that means spoiling family relations, whereas Maurizio is a more coolly calculated individual and understands that the Gucci name alone is enough to drive the business. 

House of Gucci is a solid biopic and succeeds mainly on its performances and its gripping story. It is rather scattershot narratively in that it covers a lot of ground in a reasonably long run time but the film never really feels like it has a chance to breathe as it tries to cover too much. Scott also doesn’t quite master the balance between camp and serious and the film uneasily oscillates between the two tones. 

The characters are gleefully horrible and this is a sprawling exploration of the timeline. Lady Gaga is deserving of her praise in the lead role, a tempestuous character who descends further into delirium. It is impressive that this is her second major feature film role after A Star Is Born and she more than fends her own against the experienced cast. Adam Driver is also excellent as the more level-headed yet savvy Maurizio and provides an interesting contrast to Gaga in his more sober performance. Al Pacino is typically passionate as Maurizio’s Uncle, Aldo and Jeremy Irons is chilling as the decadent yet increasingly vampiric Rodolfo. Then, there is Jared Leto, who has received a mixed reaction to his performance, some labelling it as Awards worthy and others citing he is acting in a different film. I would position my opinion somewhere in the middle – he tries to do something different but isn’t too outlandish and the performance worked for me. There is one particular scene between Leto and Pacino and for Leto to outshine Pacino when he is in full-Pacino mode is no mean feat. 

Technically, the film is interesting with some expressionistic shots from Ridley Scott regular, Dariusz Wolski. They create a sense of foreboding with its muted colour palette as the film progresses, as if their lives are decaying and descending into hell. Harry Gregson-William’s jukebox soundtrack is disappointing in that the song choices are obvious and there aren’t any memorable themes. 

Ultimately, House of Gucci is a gripping yet sprawling biopic that will be remembered more for its performances than its filmic construction. Scott’s direction is shambolic in places and he tries to bite off more than he can chew and it would have been a more interesting film if he had leaned more into the camp or blackly serious tone rather than swerve between the two. What we get is a film that doesn’t take enough risks as it should yet isn’t completely devoid of the ridiculousness this type of story requires. 

⭐⭐⭐ (Good)

Director: Sean Durkin
Starring: Jude Law, Carrie Coon, Charlie Shotwell, Oona Roche
Certificate: 15
Run Time: 107 mins

The Nest is director Sean Durkin’s second film, whose delicate and poignant debut thriller Martha Marcy May Marlene featured Elizabeth Olsen in her breakout role – it’s well worth checking out. This sophomore effort is centred around a family of four in the mid-1980s America. Englishman Rory O’Hara (Jude Law) and his wife Allison (Carrie Coon) are a middle-class family living in New York City. They have a son, Ben (Charlie Shotwell), and Sam (Oona Roche) also lives with them, who is Allison’s daughter from a previous relationship. 

Allison teaches horse riding and Rory is a trader. Rory has grown bored and believes his chances of career success have stagnated in the US. Early on in the film, it is alluded that the family have moved many times due to Rory’s work. Rory convinces Allison to emigrate to London where he can work at his old employer, Arthur Davis’ (Michael Culkin) firm. Rory rents a mansion in Surrey with ‘the option to buy’, enrols Ben in a costly private school, Sam in a state school and buys Allison a new horse called Richmond. All initially seems well, although everyone other than Rory feels that the mansion is unnecessary for their needs and they feel coldly detached from it. When Rory is unable to pay for some building work that is being carried out, problems start to ensue and The Nest very much represents the unravelling of a family. 

The Nest is a riveting character study and features powerhouse performances from Jude Law and Carrie Coon. Durkin excels in creating an eery atmosphere of constant unease with a hint of supernatural horror, bolstered by Son of Saul’s Mátyás Erdély’s frenetic yet dreamy cinematography. 

Rory is a particularly interesting character, who has worked his way up and sees himself as above everyone, creating and living a fantasy which he cannot afford. A prickly scene with his mother (Anne Reid) makes it not hard to see where he might have inherited this mindset from. This is in contrast to Allison, who has more simplistic aspirations but also lives grounded in reality and takes on the brunt of raising her children. She is not afraid to call Rory out when he makes reckless decisions and is the nearest character to representing the voice of reason. 

This all makes for an inevitable, and perhaps cyclical conclusion, the empty and hollow mansion is representative of the decay the family experiences. The Nest has received next-to-no marketing and has quickly headed to streaming services after a short theatrical release. Therefore, there is no excuse not to watch this film, which if you absorb yourself into the characters and setting, you will be rewarded with an atmospheric and intelligent character study. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Excellent)

Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber  
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot
Certificate: 12A
Run Time: 118 mins

Red Notice is an action-adventure comedy that teams Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot together. FBI Agent John Hartley (Dwayne Johnson) is assigned to investigate the theft of one of Cleopatra’s bejewelled, priceless eggs in a museum in Rome, of which in total there are three. The location of two are known but not the third. Hartley crosses paths with international art thief, Nolan Booth (Ryan Reynolds) who is in the process of stealing the egg as Hartley is in the room in the museum and a chase ensues. After a series of events, both Hartley and Booth are forced to team together to locate the other eggs in order to catch an even more skilled art thief, Sarah Black (Gal Gadot). 

On paper, the film’s cast and plot are a promising proposition. Johnson reteams with director Rawson Marshall Thurber who directed him in Central Intelligence and Skyscraper which were fun enough if rather derivative. Red Notice was originally a Universal feature but was acquired by Netflix and represents their largest budget feature to date at $200 million. 

Red Notice is a light enough romp but it fails to utilise its bankable three stars and is bland, lazy and rote in its construction. It feels like a mix of Indiana Jones, Jumanji and Jungle Cruise with a hint of The Hitman’s Bodyguard thrown in – essentially any film with a MacGuffin device with a comedic edge. There is even an unashamed and cheap reference to Indiana Jones as Reynolds whistles John Williams’ theme in a scene as the filmmakers clearly feel that the audience aren’t intelligent enough to understand the inference. The script isn’t brilliant – the humour mostly doesn’t land and the character quips feel forced and aggressive. The action sequences are laden with unconvincing CGI and there are no stakes – there are no after-effects if the third egg isn’t located and the world will continue as it was.

The performances are all serviceable from these profitable actors and Thurber asks them to do the things they do best in the constraint of a 12A rating. Johnson is a likeable presence and makes the most of the preposterous lines his character is given. Reynolds is on sarky autopilot and plagiarises his Deadpool performance but without the humour. Gadot isn’t great either and it is difficult to buy her as a dishonest character with a stilted performance. 

The narrative is convoluted for the sake of it and characters take actions that require you to suspend belief and then some. The film will then revisit events audiences are likely to question and offer a preposterous explanation of what actually happened, which one has to further suspend belief for. There are a couple of twists here and there and a large one at the end which don’t make the investment in the film all for nothing. 

The 12A rating really hurts Red Notice. The humour is painfully generic as the boundaries cannot be pushed and the film would have really benefited from some more risqué humour that Reynolds is renowned for, stronger language and more convincing and hard-hitting violence in the action sequences. This is simply a case of Netflix and / or Thurber wanting to appeal to the highest common denominator and in doing so, they appease no-one. 

Red Notice is watchable in the moment but is ultimately painfully cookie-cutter and represents a poor investment for its big budget with its CGI-heavy action. It is difficult to comprehend how the film’s budget is to the extent that it is as it certainly doesn’t portray that way on the screen. The film unashamedly sets up a sequel in its closing moments (and also contains a toe-curling Ed Sheeran cameo). When (not if) this happens, serious lessons will need to be learnt if this is to be a quality series to rival other action-adventure properties. Red Notice, as it is now, is a film that I’m sure I will forget about almost immediately. 

⭐⭐ (Poor)