I’ve always loved heist films and shows. I think they’re some of my favorite movies. I mean, who doesn’t love a great heist flick? The reveal at the end where they show you how things were done is one of my favorite aspects of cinema. Whether it’s a show like Leverage or the newest Kevin Hart flick on Netflix, Lift, heists are generally fun-filled affairs that can lead to an on-going property if developed correctly. Fortunately for Netflix, Lift was done correctly and is a rip-roaring good time.
If you read the critical reviews, it’s getting bomb reviews left and right. I genuinely don’t understand critics, at times. Is the film the next Ocean’s Eleven? Probably not. Was the romance in the film a little forced? Yeah, but it always wasn’t the movie’s main focus and can be treated as secondary to everything going on. What Lift had was a likable cast and a workable story that neither stands out as good or bad compared to other heist stories and backdrops.
Kevin Hart plays an all-around good guy and master thief, Cyrus. Opposite Hart is Gugu Mbatha-Raw playing Abby Gladstone, an Interpol field agent who is forced to abandon her attempts at catching Cyrus when her boss, played by Sam Worthington of Avatar fame, offers him a full pardon in exchange for their help stopping an eco-terrorist played by Jean Reno. Cyrus’ team consists of the usual fare for these types of films. He has a pilot, a hacker, a safe guy, and a master of disguise on his crew. These characters are a mix of newer actors and established names like Vincent D’Onofrio, Billy Magnussen, Yun Jee Kim, and Úrsula Corberó.
Much of the film takes place at exotic locals or in the airplane where the main heist takes place. Spider-Man: No Way Home star Jacob Batalon makes an appearance in the beginning as a digital artist who is unwittingly drawn into one of Cyrus’ heists. While he was only in the film for a little, I would be interested to see more of him in a future installment, should Netflix decide to make more of these films. He was just interesting enough for me to want to see more of him down the line.
The film is an easy watch, only taking up about an hour and a half of your time. Reading the reviews online would give one the impression that the film is dull, has poor writing, and really uninteresting characters, which was news to me and my wife. We laughed, thought the movie was good enough, and rather enjoyed the storyline, but we also watch a ton of films and our bar for what sucks and isn’t worth your time is definitely much different than the bar set by critics. Heist films should be simple affairs that don’t require a ton of thinking by the audience and that’s exactly what director F. Gary Gray did with Lift.
Netflix has a history of not caring what critics have to say and releasing films that don’t review well but are enjoyed by audiences. I genuinely hope that we some something like that from Lift. I think Kevin Hart’s attempt to play a caring individual who looks out for his team but is proficient at stealing stuff worked. I usually find his loudness and screaming to be offputting, but we didn’t have any of that in this film. He played a fairly normal human being who just happened to be a master thief. I like this version of Kevin Hart and hope to see more of it.
Lift isn’t going to win any awards any time soon, but I promise if you sit down and watch this with your significant other or family, you’re unlikely to be disappointed. The script makes sense. The heist is perfectly plausible except for the whole plane hiding from radars with that particular paneling, but that’s me nitpicking military technology and not in any way related to my enjoyment of the film. The film works, the writing works, and the actors do a damn good job with the material.
BSO Rating: 7-out-of-10
