Lift, 2024.
Directed by F. Gary Gray.
Starring Kevin Hart, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Vincent D’Onofrio, Úrsula Corberó, Billy Magnussen, Jacob Batalon, Jean Reno, Sam Worthington, Viveik Kalra, Yun Jee Kim, Burn Gorman, Paul Anderson, David Proud, Oli Green, Ross Anderson, Stefano Skalkotos, Jess Liaudin, Caroline Loncq, Morgan C. Jones, Erol Ismail, Gordon Alexander, Russ Bain, and Gary Fannin.
SYNOPSIS:
An international heist crew, led by Cyrus Whitaker, race to lift $500 million in gold from a passenger plane at 40,000 feet.
For all the talk regarding streaming services and how they instruct filmmakers to craft films with something exciting happening in the opening frames, anything that might deter someone from shutting the media off right away, it is maddening that director F. Gary Gray and screenwriter Daniel Kunka chose to begin their globe-trotting heist flick Lift with an NFT theft sequence inside a private bidding room for wealthy art collectors.
Following that opening mission by a team of well-meaning career criminals led by Kevin Hart’s Cyrus Whitaker (it’s also important to note that this is not a comedic turn, but straightfaced, calm, collected, and action-oriented), the NFT skyrockets in value and is then sold on the black market for more than twice the value of the Mona Lisa. If there was ever an opening designed to make as many viewers shut a film off, it is Lift.
Thankfully, the entire film is not about stealing NFTs (although one wonders why that sequence is here to begin with when later in the movie, the script acknowledges no one cares about them anymore), and does introduce a real heist with global stakes. The same Interpol team tracking Cyrus and his buddies (this is the kind of team where an on-screen graphic tells you what a character is skilled at, which goes on to define them with no other personality to show whatsoever) find themselves in a tough situation, forced to recruit them for a mission to steal half of a billion dollars in gold that will be stowed away in a passenger airplane courtesy of a dangerous madman (Jean Reno) looking to broker a deal with an arms dealer named Leviathan for a device that could cause catastrophic floods in certain parts of the world.
However, that is still not enough plot for what unquestionably follows the most frustrating Netflix Blockbuster feature film template: espionage, ensembles, and adventure that never amounts to much beyond chaotic noise. One of those Interpol agents is Abby (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), an agent who apparently fell for Cyrus when they were each undercover on a previous job. Currently, they deny their feelings for one another by insisting that they each fell for their covers. It’s a layer that simply doesn’t need to be here, especially since it leads to a rather embarrassing scene on an airplane where Abby spends five minutes sexually moaning in the bathroom to cast away suspicion while Cyrus attempts to fix some gadgetry.
Cyrus uses Abby as leverage to say yes to the job, confident that if this risky mission goes sideways, Interpol will not leave them out to dry since one of their agents is in the mix. Much of Lift is preparation for a heist that doesn’t sound tantalizing or exciting, which isn’t helped by lackluster scheming and one-note characters that give reliable presences such as Vincent D’Onofrio, Úrsula Corberó, Billy Magnussen, and others empty material to work with. When it is time to execute, there still isn’t much adrenaline, urgency, or reason to care, even if it is mildly entertaining watching the small battles that eventually break out, especially when the plane is rolling over, launching characters everywhere.
The only saving grace for Lift is that Netflix still has exorbitant amounts of money to funnel into these projects, meaning the production design is generally pleasing to look at, and so is the various architecture and locales from around the world. It also wouldn’t be fair to say anyone here is giving a bad performance. Kevin Hart is serviceable in this more savvy, team leader, band of thieves role. It’s nice to see some range and something different from the motormouthed comedian. Unfortunately, nearly everything else about the film feels algorithmic, soulless, and generic. There is no gold here.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
