It is quite striking that a mature director like the Californian Rawson Marshall Thurber, responsible for the lengths Matter of balls (2004), Mysteries of Pittsburgh (2008), We are the Miller (2013), A spy and a half (2016) and The skyscraper (2018), make own scripts in most of the occasions. This usual characteristic of the most authorial cinema is repeated again in Red alert (2021), the action comedy he made for Netflix with three well-known faces: Dwayne Johnson (Ballers), Ryan Reynolds (Buried) and Gal Gadot (Wonder woman).
The lightness of his writing, the setting in different countries as in a plot of international espionage, the frenetic manners and without too many respite of his planning and the audiovisual montage signed by Julian Clarke (District 9) and Michael L. Sale (Hangover 2: Now in Thailand!), the typical soundtrack in its instrumentation and its simple effectiveness that has composed Steve Jablonsky (The island) and everything we can analyze besides this Netflix film and its fast-paced action, meticulously choreographed, smells like the product of Hollywood commercial entertainment that pull back.
Three actors having a good time in ‘Red Alert’
Red alert bet again to give the opportunity to Ryan reynolds from squeeze your comic streak with Nolan Booth, another verbose and cheeky character like the Wade Wilson of the two installments of Deadpool (Tim Miller, David Leitch, 2016, 2018) or the director of Eteon in Fast and Furious: Hobbs and Shaw (Leitch, 2019) ─in which faces were also seen with Dwayne johnson, which here interprets in your record always to Agent John Hartley─, or as the protagonist of Free guy (Shawn Levy, 2021) but without the impudence.
However, which we do not remember in such a playful role prior to the Bishop in this film by Rawson Marshall Thurber is Gal gadot, which continues to perform as well in a physical confrontation dynamic as it does in the adventures of the DC superhero. As much as in Red alert do not make us want to clap at any time; like when Diana Prince comes out of the trenches in Patty Jenkins’ first movie about the Amazon warrior.
The humor works more or less with the staging and these actors gifted to make you laugh, with a few occasional laughs. But the usual is not the case with Ryan Reynolds’ Nolan Booth’s outrageous behavior. That is to say, the crazy things that come out of his mouth they usually have a motivation to achieve what he has engineered; they do not serve simply to warm the ear of the spectators and to surrender to their overflowing eccentricity.
The topics and the plot simplicity
It is sad to recognize that, in some sequence of Red alert, we regret with rolling eyes again national topics, very far from reality most widespread of countries at this point in the millennium, which Hollywood sometimes exploits in its productions; And one wonders what kind of misplaced consultants have been hired in the Mecca of Cinema – which includes Netflix creatives – for far too long.
On the other hand, the plot devised by Rawson Marshall Thurber combine several elements; of the stories of thieves with elaborate plans, of prison escapes and of adventurers in search of lost treasures. But both the set and its specific pieces are approached without plot complications; with a very digestible plainness and some mockery of commonplaces in the action genre. Thus, and seasoning Red alert with some turns of greater resonance than others in its coherent structure, viewers can enjoy it. Without feeling guilty or being dazzled at all.