User reviews

After video spreads of a massacre in a Georgian village committed by private military contractor Black Swans, Interpol issues a Red Notice on Black Swans leasers William Lewis (Tom Wilkonson) and his adult children Grace (Ruby Rose) and Oliver "Olly" (Owain Yeoman). While the official task is to arrest the Black Swans, at the direction of the Prime Minister, High Ranking SAS officer George Clements (Andy Serkis) seeks to kill the Black Swans as not to unleash scandal about the British Government and gas company Britgaz who hired them. The first attempt by the SAS only kills William leaving Grace and Olly to enact their fail safe. With SAS officer Tom Buckingham (Sam Heughan) on board the Eurostream to Paris with his girlfriend (Hannah John-Kamen) with the intent to propose, their trip is soon interrupted as the Black Swans seize the train and ransom the passengers against the British government with only Tom able to act against the Black Swans.

Based on the Tom Buckingham series of books by Andy McNab, who also serves as a co-producer and writer on the film, SAS: Red Notice is one of Sky Cinema's original productions made to compete on the same playing field as Amazon and Netflix original films. The film has a rich source with Andy McNab, former SAS veteran turned author, very much the U. K. equivalent to Tom Clancy with his books praised for their details and thrilling action and there's definitely a foundation to be built upon, but unfortunately the film's turgid pacing, blandly staged action, and lack of tensions leads to a slog that ends this franchise before it even starts.

Danish Director Magnus Martens has a proven track record with the decent dark comedy film Jackpot adapted from the Jo Nesbo novel as well as experience helming episodes of Banshee and 12 Monkeys, but here Martens finds himself out of his element as he doesn't frame or pace the film like an action thriller and instead treats it more like a procedural with much of the action presented in a rather detached fashion. The movie is basically yet another entry in the ever popular well of Die Hard clones and here the premise feels misjudged with the Eurostream equivalent of the Eurostar being rather cramped in real life in comparison to its film equivalent and even if we overlook that detail the setting isn't all that visually interesting with not much in the way of mining for potential action beats. The movie tries to operate on other levels such as a subplot of a mole (or "snide" as they call it) in the SAS but its such a limp attempt at intrigue with really only two possible suspects that the reveal comes off as rather limp and unimpressive (possibly a plant for sequel bait). Some of the shadowy political power plays with Britgaz and the Prime Minister are potentially interesting, but we're often held at a distance from these proceedings despite them being the most engaging.

The cast does fine for the most part (even if there's not much to work with), Andy Serkis has fun playing an unscrupulous figure not afraid to get his hands dirty, and I did enjoy Ruby Rose as Grace Lewis. Sam Heughan of TV's outlander as our lead is fine I guess in the film, but there's really not all that much to his character. The movie tries to analyze Psycopathy since Andy McNab has been diagnosed as a functioning Psychopath and incorporates that into some of his characters, but we never really get to feel exactly what that entails with Tom Buckingham and there's not much in the way of depth. There's certainly depth to be mined from protagonists with psychological baggage as seen in reliable staples like Dexter and Hannibal, but the movie just pays lip service to it if even that.

SAS: Red Notice is a rather underwhelming military thriller that is reminiscent of the underwhelming international co-productions Euan Lloyd (Who Dares Wins, Fflokes,etc.) made back in the 70s and 80s with a fresh coat of paint. With a rather flat delivery that's lacking in tension and action that's not engaging SAS: Red Notice kills whatever chance it has at a franchise.

Dull action, awful 2D characters, no chemistry, massive plot holes, poor cgi, and Andy Serkis playing a mad man.... the list goes on.

Please get Ruby Rose acting lessons.

I like many others who have watched this film are Andy McNabb book fans. Yes I know most films never live up to the books in which they are based on but I was hoping that this would have been different, but once again it was not.

As others have said already, this film is full of cliches which I find spoil movies and films like this treat their audiences like idiots which we are not.

If your a fan and have already read the book, do yourself a favour and go back and read it again it would be better than watching this film.

I am giving this film 3 stars and this is generous.

STAY AWAY FROM THIS TRIPE.

Oh come on everybody with your 1 stars - it's not THAT bad. If Gerard Butler can get away with it in all his "Fallen" films then why not Sam in this one? His Lord of the Manor background is a bit cheesy (like they're trying for an 007 audition) but if you suspend disbelief (as we all did cheering on Bruce Willis) it's an enjoyable action film that we all know how it's going to end.......and we get the great British 'C' word into the bargain!!!

Mediocre plot, awful acting, and the apallingly untalented Ruby Rose made this utterly forgetable.

I hope the low score 1 and 2's get investigated as there must be an alternative agenda??? This film was good. Acting and production great. So why all the bad reviews? I have seen much much worse over the years with poor CGI and much more unrealistic storylines. Watch this then put a true review down. Don't let the low ratings put you off.

This movie was bad. Just terrible. The quality of this movie pales in comparison to the tragedy that is "acting" by Ruby Rose. She was useless in John Wick, and I wish the director of this movie would have kept her dialog to the same amount as Wick. Why cast her for the role of an intimidating character? I think a bunny rabbit would be more convincing than her. The rest of the movie is typical and predictable, but the entire movie is dropped by every scene she is in.

My wife an I were taken out of the movie by our laughing at her...... Watch a re-rerun of Hee-Haw, it would be more entertaining. (I couldn't think of a worse show).

This film has much bad press, not sure why! It is what it is...an action film with lots of bumps, bangs and twists. Storyline is good with some cracking actor interplay along with intense action scenes.

I didn't have high expectations for this movie and guess what? It didn't' deliver. I normally love action movies and don't expect Oscar performances. It's entertainment. But this was just nope...

There were no chemistry between Sam Heughan and Hannah J Kamen at all. Not a believable pair.

Ruby Rose can't act if her life depended on it!

I don't understand why she gets cast in anything!

She is a really really horrible actress!!!!!

Enjoyed it immensely but script could be better.All main actors did a great job and I like that the action were more realistic and not over the top..

Seriously, people need to chill? I get we're in a pandemic but I swear people are just coming on here to whinge? Good story and plot, kept me gripped throughout. Maybe the psychological back story, was a little too deep for people to understand too?? Thought it was fresh!!

I had such high hopes with this stellar cast. It just didn't come together. I've seen so many reviewers panning the acting, and there I disagree, but even Olivier couldn't save this one. The screenplay was abysmal - the most poignant dialogue coming from a 10 year old. It had good action sequences, but they had poor flow with the rest of the film. Each actor seemed to do what they could with what they had, except perhaps Rose who was too happy being a psychopath to be truly psychopathic. It's not a horrible film, despite the haters; it just misses the high mark of expectation given the talented cast.

Ruby rose is possibly the worst actress of this generation yet somehow people still pay her to ruin there movies. Her acting just makes me feel uncomfortable. Some of the other actors are better but not great. The action in this looks like a movie from the 90s.

And very bad acting by most of the actors. Leading actor with bad exaggerated performance, playing a role with unlikable skinny fiancee. This is a terrible B-movie quality and completely unnecessary production. American expatriates lived on the British soil and turned killing machines for the corporate, and bad apple in Britan's anti-terrorist SAS/MI5/MI6 or whatever organizations, such a highly unlikely crappy screenplay has been used again and again.

Don't be fooled by those who tried to tell you it's a good thriller, give it a try. Just don't.

Seasoned TV director Magnus Martens dabbles for his third time in a full length feature film, alongside producer and newb writer Laurence Malkin, who put together this screenplay based on the novel of the same name by Andy McNab.

For the first quarter of the film, the story was all over the place. I can't put my finger on weather it was bad edit scene cuts, flawed directing, a confused and convoluted screenplay, or all of the above. It almost seemed like it all happened too fast, with lots of filler and very little substance. I was just about to throw in the towel on this one. But, once the story started to progress with the train acts, the scene transitions got much better, and the story flowed much smoother, and became very interesting and suspenseful.

The cinematography by Nick Remy Matthews was outstanding. All the visuals and V/SFX were on point. Aside from a few plot and technical issues, the last three-quarters of the film were excellent. Sure there were some cheesy scenes and dialogue, but the tunnel and train sets were very suspenseful and mostly edge of your seat thrills. Even the 123 min runtime flew by with near-perfect pacing.

Casting and performances by all were spot on, and although at first I wasn't impressed with Ruby Rose, she nailed her acting and character in the latter part of the film. The score was the adequate B-grade quality, and that's too bad, because had it been better and less obvious and unfitting, it may have added more suspense to many scenes.

It is certainly not worth all the lame 1/10's - strictly on a production value alone, but I'm guessing most of those are from upset members who saw the ridiculous shill fifty-three 9 and 10/10's. This film was not exceptional by any means to deserve anything close to those numbers, as it had very many flaws. But, it was an unconventional setting with claustrophobic scenes that will make many cringe in suspense, and those scenes were done very well. The story although not entirely unique, it still had many merits to it. Martens should be proud of his work that went into this, and for a newb screenwriter, Malkin did good.

Am I glad I saw it? Absolutely. Would I recommend it? If you're into action and suspense thriller movies and are not overly picky, you will enjoy this. It's a well deserved 7/10 from me. To view my rating guidelines, or see more of my 1000+ reviews, click on my account.

I know movie is a movie but rly ... 50kg girl cant fight toe to toe with guy 80+ kg ...

Unlike many people, it seems, I do like to be entertained and don't get all arty and critic-like about movies. I do enjoy what you might call "fantasy" action movies - and that's what you can call SAS: Red Notice - it zips along, there's quite a lot of gory action, with some unlikely storyline twists, but hey, its entertainment - and it entertained me for a couple of hours! When it's done, forget it - its never going to be in the Oscars, but was okay . . .

What can I say? What is wrong with the film industry today, geeze continuous bad movies. Not even close to 6 Days.

Some of these people have no idea what they are talking about. The storyline is great, it's not implausible at all. The action scenes are good and the sound effects and editing of pretty good. Ruby Rose is probably the worst thing about this film. Her accent, acting and character is pretty awful. She cannot play a villain to save her life and it really shows: Sam Heughans character is great and is portrayed really well by him. He is a fantastic actor. The cast is pretty amazing too. Yes some of the acting could be better but remember THIS FILM WAS MADE DURING A PANDEMIC. So they would have struggled more than other productions.

Overall if you like quirky action films it's a good film to watch on a Friday night with a takeaway. Enjoy.

What a horrific script, really not what I was expecting. I know it's an action movie and I wasn't expecting some bafta prize winning writing but the script, the way it's written, it makes some decent actors sound robotic with no personality. I honestly cringed on more than a few occasions. There was nothing about the film that was good, the story was a decent idea but not great and it was poorly written, the acting was below average, the fight scenes were poorly choreographed. I was expecting more. My recommendation, avoid at all costs.

Was impressed with the film, Sam is brilliant as is Ruby Rose. As a big Sam fan it was nice to see him in a different role. The film has a good bit of action and a bit of humour too. Was worth the watch

I read the book and always wanted it to be a film. This for me is no way below a 5. Acting was not bad, there were good action scenes and it was a fun popcorn flick.

I just really enjoyed it and feel it deserves a little more love.

Utter tripe. Had to suspend disbelief to accept they got finance to make this film. Just a succession of cliches from the titles to the credits.