Lift (12A)

Dir: F. Gary Gray

Cast: Kevin Hart, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Vincent D’Onofrio, Ursula Corbero, Billy Magnussen, Jacob Batalon, Jean Reno, Sam Worthington

This uninspired and painfully unfunny heist caper is the latest in a long line of generic and forgettable Netflix original movies

Following my viewing of the first major release of 2024, the unfortunately underwhelming Night Swim, it was clear that the year was not off to the best of starts. After finally getting to see the excellently bonkers Poor Things due to its belated UK release, I was ready to give the new year a fresh shot at providing cinematic enjoyment.

‘Lift’ is the first moderately budgeted project by Netflix of the year, and while my expectations were not high going into it, I was anticipating a somewhat entertaining and light-hearted caper. Whilst I may not be a huge fan of most of director F. Gary Gray’s filmography, the 54-year-old has produced a couple of serviceable heist films in the past, the socially conscious Set It Off (1996) and his underappreciated 2003 reboot of the classic British heist film, The Italian Job.

Outside of these two outings for the director however, he has failed to reach his true potential. With the exception of the fantastic N.W.A. biopic Straight Outta Compton (2015), Gray has rarely recaptured the energy or innovation seen in the early years of his career, directing iconic music videos for the likes of TLC, Outkast and N.W.A. alumni, Ice Cube and Dr. Dre.

‘Lift’ is Gray’s first feature in five years, following on from the critically panned Men in Black: International, the fourth instalment in the once beloved comedy sci-fi franchise. Gray was attached to direct the project once the spec script was acquired by Netflix back in 2021, with Kevin Hart being sought out to lead the ensemble.

Hart stars as renowned art thief Cyrus, the leader of a ragtag team of specialists that comprises of: “not so” master of disguise Denton (Vincent D’Onofrio); expert pilot Camila (Ursula Corbero); buoyant safecracker Magnus (Billy Magnussen); hacker Mi-Sun (Kim Yun Jee) and British engineer Luke (Viveik Kaira). We first meet up with the B-Tech Ocean’s Eleven as they attempt to steal what some may consider modern art, an NFT. Despite the successful heist, the crew garners the attention of Interpol agent Abby (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), who offers the team with an ultimatum. In order to avoid lengthy prison sentences for their previous thefts, the crew can aid Interpol in an attempt to intercept $500million in gold, that is on its way to international banker and terrorist mastermind Jorgensen (Jean Reno).

With no alternative, Cyrus and his gang reluctantly agree to the job and are to be granted diplomatic immunity if they are successful. With the gold being transported from London to Zurich in a matter of weeks, Cyrus, Abby and the crew must come up with a plan to steal the payload from the commercial airliner acting as courier, without drawing attention to themselves at risk of being murdered by Jorgensen or his henchman.

While I did have very low expectations going into this latest star-studded outing from Netflix, nothing could have prepared me for how poor and uninspiring it would turn out. Much like Zack Snyder‘s dire passion project Rebel Moon, another recent release by the streaming giant, ‘Lift’ is destitute of any originality. Throughout the entirety of its thankfully short runtime, I could not help but think to myself that the only thing these bland and underwritten characters have managed to steal is 100 minutes of my time. Not even an abundance of out of place camera zooms and distractingly poor visual effects are enough to breathe life into yet another soulless release by Netflix.

Even though I had my reservations towards him as a filmmaker, Gray slumps to a new low here, opting for an ultra glossy and over stylised aesthetic that only further emphasises the little film’s lack of substance. At the centre of the action is Kevin Hart as the movie’s shoddy attempt at replicating the charisma and intelligence of George Clooney‘s Danny Ocean. Hart has always had a questionable filmography, but there is no debate when it comes to his talents as a comedian. Even in his more lacklustre projects, Hart can still provide a handful of laughs due to his natural timing and enthusiasm. Gray and screenwriter Daniel Kunka make the very dubious creative choice to have Hart’s central character serve as the straight man, devoid of any charm or comedic freedom, taking away the one asset the star has as an actor. Most of the tame attempts at humour are instead often handed to the supporting cast, with an uncomfortably miscast Gugu Mbatha-Raw awkwardly delivering increasingly flat quips. A once promising newcomer, the undoubtedly talented Mbatha-Raw has some major television credits to her name, but has struggled to progress on the big screen, taking on a series of thankless roles in a largely poor filmography.

Some may go into ‘Lift’ with a very similar mindset to myself, expecting to find a quick and easy watch. Whilst it may be quick, it is far from easy, full of awkward interactions, terrible visuals and unconvincingly cheap production design. If anyone is wishing to seek out a poorly produced aviation heist caper, I would advise on them on choosing the equally terrible but slightly more memorable Money Plane (2020).

It has been a poor start to 2024 but with countless highly anticipated releases over the next twelve months, things can only improve from here on out. One thing that is for certain, ‘Lift’ will be appearing on several end of year lists for all the wrong reasons, if anyone can remember it that is.

Lift is now available to stream on Netflix