What is the heist subgenre? If you have seen films likeInception,American Hustle, orDen of Thieves, you have a pretty good idea of what it is and the changes that can be made to it in each film. Nine times out of ten, we’re watching somebody lead a team of thieves to steal vast sums of money, no matter how that money is presented or acquired. Now,Netflix has a brand-new heist movietaking the streaming service by storm.
On the surface, Kevin Hart’sLiftseems like a fun action comedy about stealing a bunch of gold from a plane. It has all the qualities of a heist film with a charming cast and action-packed scenes. Hart takes a different approach than the characters he usually plays, being more serious in this film than his comedic tendencies. This movie is a heist film through and through. But that’s the biggest issue withLift: it overuses clichés. Because it has heist subgenre elements, the clichés that are presented are all too recognizable.
WARNING: Spoilers for Netflix’s Lift
Same Heist Formula
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When it comes to heist movies and TV shows, this is the formula that the subgenre typically follows: the planning, setting up the heist, things go terribly wrong along the way, yet the characters somehow manage to pull through and get the job done andescape with the loot. Usually, there is some sort of twist at the end, but that’s not always the case with some heist movies.
Liftfollows this formula perfectly, which is where the problem lies. Most heist screenings add at least something new, likeOcean’s 8having an all-female lead casting or incorporating a separate genre (like Fantasy withDungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves).Liftdoes nothing to add to an already preordained formula.
There’s nothing wrong with sticking to what you know. It’s very recognizable and makes it easier for the audience to understand where the plot is going. But there are downsides to this as well, and it’s not just all the clichés involved. Creating a heist movie without branching out to make it more unique makes the film too predictable. This is, unfortunately, whatLiftdoes. Hart’s movie plays it too safe and doesn’t add anything new. We know how the film will end from the start, and sure enough, Cyrus (Hart) and his crew steal the gold shipment.
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The Characters Are Familiar Archetypes
You may have noticed another familiar pattern inLift,along with the heist plot formula. That is the fact that the characters play certain roles in Cyrus’s heist crew, and they are the same archetypes that are presented in almost every other heist film. In Cyrus’s crew, you have the inside connection, Denton (Vincent D’Onofrio), the pilot Camila (Ursula Corbero), the safecracker Magnus (Billy Magnussen), the hacker Mi-Sun (Kim Yoon-Ji), and the engineer Luke (Viveik Kalra). This combination of skill sets is precisely the team inother heist filmsand TV shows. Because of this, we don’t see Kevin Hart be, well, Kevin Hart. The humor falls on the rest of the crew, while Hart plays the typical “cool and serious” heist leader. Seeing Hart play a conventional character in an action comedy film is unusual, though this break from his usual role does helpLift.
Each crew member does their specific job, and that’s about it. They don’t have much characterization after that. Most of the character depth we see comes from Cyrus and Abby (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), but that’s mostly when they rekindle their relationship. Other than that, the characters don’t change all that much. The only one with some sort of revelation is Abby when she quits Interpol, and that’s not until the movie’s end.
The Clichéd Screenplay Outweighs Action Scenes
This film has some pretty good action sequences. With F. Gary Gray (Straight Outta Compton;The Fate of the Furious) directing the film, it’s hard not to appreciate some over-the-top escapes or explosions. That’s another cliché brought fromearly influential heist films, but it’s never without any excitement. But with recent action films (like, for example,Fast X), there’s an action sequence in just about every scene that takes away from the screenplay. The good thing is thatLiftdoesn’t have this problem. The bad thing is thatLifthas this issue in reverse. While the film’s action scenes were good, the dialogue and screenplay were very lackluster.
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The movie was written by Daniel Kunka, a name you likely haven’t heard before. The only other project that Kunka wrote before 2024’sLiftwas the 2009 action crime thriller12 Rounds, which starred John Cena.12 Roundshad the same issue thatLifthas: the 2009 film was full of great action scenes and violence, but the screenplay and character depth fell terribly short.
Despite all these clichés and a low Rotten Tomatoes score,Liftbecame ahuge Netflix hit. The film has a talented cast, and it’s full of thrills. Plus, there were bound to be die-hard Kevin Hart fans who would watch anything he produced or starred in. It is worth watching if you don’t mind all the clichés and predictable moves by the characters, as most of the time, a heist film is still enjoyable.Liftis now available to stream on Netflix.
