Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Look, all of us enjoy exaggeratedly silly-fancy action movies once in a while, and “Lift” had to potential to be just that, but it isn’t. Kevin Hart’s “The Man From Toronto” was a lot funnier, and that isn’t saying much.
Directed by F. Gary Gray (of “The Italian Job” fame) and written by Daniel Kunka, the best aspect of the 2024 heist movie “Lift” is its scenic locales and set pieces. From the grandeur of Venice’s aging architectural wonders to a flashy red-blue glass-roofed private jet, the film offers plenty of visually pleasing elements. But the glitzy visuals are owed to the generous budget. Pretty much every Netflix movie looks as good as this, but the writing is seriously lacking. Besides, “A Haunting In Venice” had an even more impressive opening sequence that captured the historic city’s charms.
Okay, let’s talk plot: Kevin Hart portrays Cyrus, the mastermind of an international art thievery ring. Interpol propositions him to assist in stealing half a billion dollars worth of gold bullion, earmarked for terror funds, in exchange for immunity from arrest for his latest art heist. The gold belongs to an extremely notorious terror mastermind, so Cyrus and his crew will have to risk everything to secure the goods. To ensure they aren’t left stranded when things get tough, Cyrus insists that his Interpol agent and ex-girlfriend, Abby (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), be a part of their daring operation.
While the whole ‘cops colluding with criminals for the greater good’ is obviously an old trope, “Lift” does have a promising premise which is scuttled by slow boring romantic scenes and stale philosophical “too cool for school” (a character even uses the phrase) musings. Kevin Hart tries to hard to be smarty-pants Cyrus, and could’ve used more comedic moments. This is not to say that Hart should stick to comedic roles, he was really good in the “Fatherhood”, where he played a single widowed father raising a daughter with a lot of heart. In “Lift,” his role is an awkward blend of “cool” and “cringe-worthy,” and he has very little chemistry with Gugu Mbatha-Raw. The romantic sub-plot was completely unnecessary and a frenemies relationship would’ve worked a whole lot better.
The following actors complete Cyrus’ thieving crew: Úrsula Corberó as the adventurous pilot Camila, Billy Magnussen as their daring safecracker Magnus, the cheery Yun Jee Kim as the tech-genius Mi-Sun, Viveik Kalra as the ingenious engineer Luke, while Vincent D’Onofrio plays their not-so-great master of disguise, Denton. Jean Reno plays one of the primary antagonists, Jorgensen, who looks just dangerous enough to be a terror mastermind—the very man whose gold the crew is after. Cyrus plans a crazy (also impressive in theory) mid-air robbery to nick the gold, which doesn’t go quite the way he wanted it to.
Overall, “Lift” sets out to be a suave, smart, fun film about a daring heist, but ends up being a muddled slow, un-funny, okay-ish affair. Within the first fifteen minutes of the film, it becomes evident that one needs to suspend logic to enjoy the story. Despite lowering my expectations and being completely willing to do just that, the film wasn’t very entertaining. The 1 hour 47-minute runtime should have been trimmed by at least 15 minutes, if not more.
Rating: 5 on 10. You can stream “Lift” on Netflix.
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