SAS: Red Notice – By the Book Action Film
Director: Magnus Martens
Writer: Laurence Malkin (Screenplay) Andy McNab (Novel)
Starring: Sam Heughan, Ruby Rose, Andy Serkis, Hannah John-Kamen, Tom Hopper, Noel Clarke, Owain Yeoman, Tom Wilkinson
Plot: A small army of well trained criminals led by Laszlo Antonov have hijacked a train deep beneath the English Channel.
Runtime: 2 Hours 3 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: SAS: Red Notice starts when a group of mercenaries led by William Lewis (Wilkinson) are hired to eliminate a village, only to get exposed by the survivors, leading to the British government needing to clean up the connections, ordering a Red Notice on William and his troops, including his daughter Grace (Rose).
Tom Buckingham (Heughan) is part of the team looking to taken them out, with the plan not going well, as Grace escape, while Tom is looking to take his girlfriend Dr Sophie Hart (John-Kamen) or Paris, he finds himself in the middle of the latest mission from Grace and her team, where Tom will use his own skills to try and rescue as many people as he can.
Thoughts on SAS: Red Notice
Characters & Performances – Tom Buckingham is from a wealthy family but is one of the best soldiers the British military has, he has an ability to sense trouble and will use his skills to make sure he can trouble before it happens. He is also trying to settle down in his personal life with his girlfriend, which will see the two lives cross when he is on the ground when the Channel tunnel train is held hostage. He will come off like John McClane, always ahead of the game surviving against the odds. Sam Heughan does bring this upper-class soldier to life with ease, giving us the action man we would expect to see. Grace Lewis is the daughter of the mercenary team that is being hunted down, with her plan to make sure she gets the truth exposed for the work the British paid her team to do. She demands to be in control and does get frustrated with her teams lack of ability to stop Tom. Ruby Rose is great in this role, with her action skills coming to the front of the performance along with her characters cold deliver. Dr Sophie Hart is the girlfriend of Tom’s she is always wanting to know more about his life, knowing she comes from a career which looks to save lives, not take them, she becomes on of the hostages on the train, where she is given her own chance to try and figure out how to survive, knowing Tom will come for her. Hannah John-Kamen does well in her role here, showing the strength against the force that will kill to stay in control. We do get plenty of military figures through the film which will all be trying to solve the problem, along with the host of mercenaries for Tom to do battle with.
Story – The story here follows the daughter of a red noticed mercenary group that is on the run, but looking for her own way of getting revenge on the British Government that turned on her family, who holds them hostage in the Channel Tunnel, only to find herself up against a special forces solider trying to protect his girlfriend. The basic core ingredients of this film do feel like we are watching the old Die Hard in the Channel Tunnel idea, villain with masterplan that comes up against one person that will look to ruin said plan. This side of the story is the most entertaining, it is easy to watch, but the overuse of the who is the insider does seem to go on way longer than it needs to leaving us not caring about anything the military are doing on the outside. The desire that Grace shows does help us want to see if her plan can come through, almost offering her more sympathy than it should too.
Themes – SAS: Red Notice is an action film which will have plenty of military based action, with strategically positioning for battles, the singular location of being on the train in the channel tunnel does contain the action, giving the villains the major advantage on the situation too.
SAS: Red Notice is an enjoyable easy to watch action film in the Die Hard mold.
