We all know Kevin Hart isn’t starring in anything, let alone leading, in the next best blockbuster. Outside of those cute animation films, he does voiceovers for. But that’s not a bad thing. We need all kinds of films with Black leads! Yes, even the ones we think are completely cheesy, too romantic, or just plain ol’ boring.
So can we finally let go of the pressure that we put on others, especially Black talent, in 2024 to be perfect and 100% great? Kevin Hart isn’t a bad actor!
He’s not the best thing since sliced bread, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t entertain us. So cut the man some slack. You already knew this wasn’t going to be the next Top Gun baby, let’s not pretend like we’re magically shocked when we turn it on.
And yes, I say this right before saying Kevin Hart’s new action film on Netflix, almost bored me to sleep. But since I finally made it through the entire film, here’s a quick review of “Lift”.
“Lift” Movie Review
Kevin Hart’s New Netflix Movie “Lift” Could Have Been Gold …
Yup, that’s right … the key word here is “could” have.
It wasn’t 100% amazing, because the first hour was honestly boring AF.
I think if the writers had started this where the action began, (after that 1-hour mark) and then did the “fill in the blanks” thing folks do to give us the backstory last … I would have enjoyed this from the beginning to the end.
So contrary to what they may be saying online, “Lift” isn’t a bad movie at all. It just took way too long to get good. A friend of mine mentioned she only got halfway through. And I usually quit watching movies when they bore me as well.
But I kept watching and it finally got good after that first hour.
Sadly, an hour is way too f*cking long for anyone to wait for some damn good action — in an action movie. Or in any movie for that matter!
You’ve got about a good 30 minutes in me, before I start rolling my eyes, wishing for it to be over, and before I start scrolling on my phone. Okay, maybe it’s more like 10 mins if I’m being completely honest. But you get my point, right? It shouldn’t take that long for a movie to hook its viewers! So taking a full 60 minutes to set the tone, give us the backstory, and get everything in place for the final act is just disrespectful at this point!
I don’t know how else to take it. Do you think I have nothing else better to do with my time? Because baby I do! So let’s get this goddamn show on the road!
Anywho — had the writers made this one tiny script change, things would have been golden.
Outside of this one script change, the cast did their thang!
Once it kicked in, there was a good amount of action, and fight scenes!
And yes, Kevin Hart held his own in this. But our girl Gugu Mbatha-Raw was a pleasure to watch, as always. Especially in that plane fight scene! I love it when she’s badass! (Yup, that means I also loved her character in Loki, even though we’re supposed to hate her.)
And y’all know I absolutely love me some Jacob Batalon! So him being in this was a pleasant surprise. Oh! You may not even recognize him from Marvel’s new Disney Plus series, “Echo”, since he’s the “master of disguise” in this, but Vincent D’Onofrio is also in “Lift”.
And don’t let me lie to you, the script had its moments …
From Kevin and Gugu’s characters lying about joining the high-mile club, to one of the characters guilt-tripping a Karen into believing she was discriminating against him because he was in a wheelchair. And even them “kidnapping” an artist, so they could sell the art they stole from him at a higher price, and then cut him part of the profits.
There were some really solid moments throughout this movie. It just needed a bit of restructuring so we weren’t bored for so long.
Hell, at one point I thought the best thing about this movie was gonna be getting to see what first class on some planes looks like, for free. Cause that plane was NICE!
But it was the little plot twist at the end that I ended up really loving! Plus the cinematography is really good. Overall, it’s worth a watch, on a boring weekend, if you’ve got nothing else to do. Just don’t go in expecting too much.
P.S. – I know I mentioned that high-mile club scene, but you’re not gonna see Gugu naked or anything y’all. This is PG-13! There aren’t any sex scenes. Sorry!
Rating: 3.5/5