Writer/director F. Gary Gray’s post-Straight Outta Compton blockbusters – Fate of the Furious and Men in Black: International – haven’t shown the longtime director at his best. Unfortunately, his latest film for Netflix, Lift, continues this trend as it’s a totally soulless heist film that fails to properly showcase its talent.
Lift follows a team of thieves led by Cyrus (Kevin Hart) who “lifts” some of the most valuable items and people on Earth to earn the biggest payday. Despite eluding the government for several years, Cyrus and his team are recruited to work with Interpol on a new job. With the help of top Interpol operative Abby (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), who has a history with Cyrus, the team must steal a large sum of gold from a prolific bad guy to keep him from funding his devastating operations. However, the mission doesn’t go as planned and Cyrus’ team is forced to do whatever they can to complete the task.
The film has an eye-catching cast that contains all the potential for a crowd-pleasing ride. Aside from Hart and Mbatha-Raw, the film features talent like Billy Magnussen, Vincent D’Onofrio, Ursula Corbero, Sam Worthington, Jacob Batalon, and more. Sadly though, it doesn’t effectively utilize any of the strengths or likable qualities of these actors whatsoever.
Hart is overly serious as Cyrus and delivers a dead pan performance that goes against his usually bombastic comedic style. Cyrus is so lifeless because of this, and it genuinely feels like Hart is not having fun being in this film. He’s restricted in every way you can imagine and can barely muster a genuine smile throughout. Even worse, the dynamic between Hart and Mbatha-Raw is immensely forced. Although their characters once supposedly shared a spark, they’re a relatively awkward pairing. Their chemistry is unbalanced and when they’re obligated to have comedic or emotional moments, they aren’t a good match. They don’t work off each other well and the film is way too focused on them, so there’s no break from their stiff performances.
As for everyone else, they don’t matter at all. No one on the team is given much exposition, backstory, personality, or depth outside of generic heist roles – like “pilot” or “safecracker.” Some of them are barely seen much throughout the film and it’s baffling how underused these actors are. D’Onofrio is utterly wasted in his role as Denton, and we rarely see him live up to his master of disguise title. Magnussen is a needlessly corny ball of energy as the safecracker. The rest of the team is highly forgettable and seldom gets time in the spotlight to flex their skills or have their stories told. Outside the team, the other characters are somehow worse. Sam Worthington is a pointlessly harsh government agent with awful lines and the villains are one-note in the worst ways possible.
When it comes to the story, it’s so thin and remarkably familiar that it immediately struggles to keep your interest. The opening drops viewers into an introductory heist that sees the team go through the motions in their roles. While there’s a slight deviation in terms of what the team is actually after, the entire sequence is such a basic depiction of thieves slipping away from the law. It’s entirely too textbook for the genre and displays no action or personality to set it apart.
Lift then follows its opening up with an elongated and boring section of setting up the big plan. It’s so barebones and spends zero time trying to develop stakes, character motivations, or a sense of intrigue with all the pieces being put together. Honestly, the film is so devoid of story and cut apart that it’s missing pieces that desperately matter to getting viewers interested. Instead, it shoves in comedic lines and interactions that don’t land and doesn’t try to establish an emotional connection to these characters. Thus, when the film shifts into its over-stretched finale, viewers won’t feel invested in the slightest and will be especially unimpressed by the action and thrills.
Despite Gray having worked in franchises known for their action, he doesn’t bring anything of value to Lift. The film’s action heavily lacks creativity and Gray’s vision is so uninspired. The only sense of style that comes through is a sense of wealth, but even that doesn’t do much and the visual effects are so sloppy that you’ll wish the money went somewhere other than glossy aesthetics. Not to mention, the attempts to add new obstacles and layers to the finale heist rarely create any sense of lasting thrills or shocks. Even when things seem like they’re going wrong, the heightened danger doesn’t last for long and viewers won’t feel like Cyrus’ team is remotely close to actual peril. Plus, the ending scene of the team confronting the big baddie is so unfulfilling because it is so quickly wrapped up before anything meaningful can happen. Overall, the film’s story is undeniably hollow and feels like its most crucial aspects were left on the cutting room floor for some reason.
Lift embodies nothing that fans look for in a great heist flick and represents the most careless craftmanship you’ll see. The film dies by its familiarity and the distinct lack of effort to make it even remotely unique. It’s the unhealthiest junk food you can find on Netflix – that kind that gives you acid reflux rather than sweet relief.
Lift is currently streaming on Netflix.
