The Netflix film, “Lift,” was directed by F. Gary Gray, who has made some pretty amazing movies in the past, such as “The Italian Job.” Unfortunately, “Lift” comes up short for viewers looking for edge-of-your-seat excitement.
Kevin Hart plays a craft thief, Cyrus, who is apparently very good at pulling off impossible heists, until his luck runs out when one of his team members is captured by the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL). Cyrus and his band of bad guys and girls are then thrown into a heist job orchestrated by INTERPOL.
Abby Gladwell, (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) is the agent that wants desperately to bring Cyrus and his crew down for their notorious heists. It becomes obvious that Cyrus and Abby know each other and have some past personal experience that seems to have left Abby very bitter.
Regrettably, she will have to put her bitterness on hold and work together with Cyrus and his band of thieves to bring down a much more dangerous bad guy, Jorgensen, (Jean Reno) who plans to transfer a monstrous amount of gold to a terrorist group. Abby’s boss, Huxley, (Sam Worthington) forces her to work alongside Cyrus to pull off the heist of a lifetime: stealing the gold from Jorgensen’s jet while it is in flight.
Cyrus’ crew, Camila (Ursula Corbero), Mi-Sun (Yun Jee Kim), Denton (Vincent D’Onofrio), and Mangus (Billy Magnussen) must work quickly to develop a foolproof plan to steal the gold. Each member has their specific job in this mid-air heist. It all gets pretty complicated, and not in a good way.
There is not much chemistry among the cast. All criminals with specific high-tech skills, they sit around cracking jokes and taking jabs at each other while planning their big heist. The banter just falls flat.
Kevin Hart brings a little welcome comedy, and Billy Magnussen’s character, Magnus, is comical and provides some funny moments as he’s practicing his safe-opening skills. Other than that, it is just not Netflix’s best work. They try to lead viewers to believe that the plot is going to fall apart and the bad guys will prevail, but the movie is too predictable for that. Not only is the heist successful, Abby and Cyrus end up together in the end. It is an awkward attempt at a romantic ending to an action movie.
For someone looking for a random movie to kill some time when there is nothing else to do, “Lift” will serve that purpose. Just don’t press play with high expectations.
by Olivia Hennis
