Director: F. Gary Gray
Genre: Action
Cast: Kevin Hart, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Sam Worthington, Vincent D’Onofrio, Úrsula Corberó.
Duration: 104 minutes
Now streaming on Netflix
You know the Netflix formula: take a reliable box office trope – the big-budget action movie, the international spy thriller, the hitman and car chase bonanza – repackage it for the laptop screen with evermore disposable wrapping, attach a big name star with a hefty paycheck, release, move on. Such results – Sweet Girl, The Adam Project, The Gray Man, just to name a few – are often widely viewed yet under-discussed, throwaway blockbusters in the house style (overlit, frenetic) without much staying power or distinguishable flair.
There are well-worn and reduced expectations going into Lift, the latest collaboration between Netflix, the comedian Kevin Hart and a tried and true concept (in this case, clever thieves with expensive toys and menacing bad guys). The film does little to outrun them. You know from the first minute, in which Hart’s debonair conman Cyrus Whitaker strolls confidently into a Venetian art auction, that this is a streaming action flick – stock characters, music video flairs, wealth porn, limp flashes of personality appealing to a low common denominator.Hart, usually cast as the wacky, hapless foil, the good guy doing his best or the everyman sidekick (such as in The Man from Toronto), plays against type here as a hyper-competent leader of a heist ring who, of course, only steals from people who deserve it. It’s an ill fit for his physical, loud brand of comedy, which can’t help but poke through his attempts at suave charisma.
There is plenty to keep many viewers watching for its 1-hour, 44-minute runtime. But given the bare characterization for everyone and the total lack of chemistry between Hart and Mbatha-Raw (despite her best efforts), not enough to elevate Lift above its many forgotten peers.
–theguardian.com
Don’t want to miss out on any story? For updates on all Sqoop stories, follow this link on Telegram: https://t.me/Sqoop
