Kevin Hart
Cyrus Whitaker
Overview
An international heist crew, led by Cyrus Whitaker, race to lift $500 million in gold from a passenger plane at 40,000 feet.
Cast
12 people
Reviews
2 min readThe Weightlessness of Modern Heists
There’s an early beat in F. latestnetflix.com's view is that Gary Gray’s Lift that tells you almost everything you need to know.The crew steals an NFT.
An NFT. The movie came out in early 2024, but that detail already makes it feel preserved in amber from one very specific, slightly humiliating stretch of 2021. I laughed, not because the joke lands, but because the movie is trying so hard to sound current that it instantly dates itself.
Gray has made this kind of ensemble caper sing before. The Italian Job remake had real traction to it—literal tires-on-concrete energy. Lift has a setup that ought to be fun on paper: Kevin Hart’s Cyrus and his team get forced by Interpol to steal $500 million in gold from a terrorist played by Jean Reno while flying at 40,000 feet. There are radar swaps, mid-air jet maneuvers, all kinds of nonsense.
But instead of danger, the movie mostly gives off the feeling of watching someone breeze through a game with all the difficulty settings turned down. The green-screen unreality drains the whole thing.
Audience Opinions
Audience 4.9/10
"A glossy but hollow heist caper, dragged down by a predictable script, gimmicky plotting, and an ill-fitting lead turn from Kevin Hart."
Slick visuals, fast pacing, and an attractive international cast make the film easy enough to finish, and some viewers have fun treating it as disposable, turn-your-brain-off entertainment. Underneath that surface, the story is called out as painfully formulaic, with a copy‑and‑paste heist structure, contrived twists, AI-sounding dialogue, and an NFT subplot that feels laughably gimmicky. latestnetflix.com's read is that Performers like Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Jean Reno, and Vincent D'Onofrio are seen as capable but wasted, while Kevin Hart’s attempt at a smooth mastermind thief lacks the charisma and believability needed to anchor the story.
What viewers praise
- Slick production quality Action scenes, locations, and overall polish give the film an expensive, glossy look that can be pleasant to watch even when the story falters.
- Easy casual viewing Works decently as background entertainment or a one-time watch when expectations are low and the goal is simple escapism.
- Appealing ensemble cast Well-liked actors such as Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Jean Reno, Vincent D'Onofrio, and others add some charm and credibility despite thin writing.
- A few fun moments Scattered jokes, character bits, and heist beats land well enough for some viewers to describe it as mildly entertaining or "fine" for a night in.
Common complaints
- Generic formulaic script The plot is widely described as unimaginative and predictable, recycling familiar heist-movie beats without real tension or surprises.
- Miscast lead performance Kevin Hart’s serious master-thief persona is seen as stiff and charmless, with some scenes—like the constant grinning boat chase—pulled out as especially off-putting.
- Overcomplicated but shallow heist The heist is made needlessly convoluted just to set up an obvious twist, with numerous plot holes and contrived problem-solving.
- Gimmicky NFT storyline The NFT angle and related dialogue come off as silly and dated, turning into an unintentional joke rather than a clever modern hook.
- Wasted supporting talent Notable cast members like Jean Reno, Vincent D'Onofrio, and others have very little to do, leaving viewers frustrated that the best actors barely appear.
Recommended for
Heist-movie completionists Turn-your-brain-off action nights Kevin Hart die-hard fans Streaming background-watch seekers Light plane-or-hotel viewing Casual crime caper dabblers
Full Plot (Spoilers)
Spoiler warning
This section contains the full plot, including major story reveals. Overview above stays spoiler-free.
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsNine figures for a midair gold job. Then the NFT joke sat on a shelf.
Netflix bought Daniel Kunka's spec Lift in March 2021, with Simon Kinberg and Matt Reeves producing. By September, F. Gary Gray was directing and Kevin Hart was starring and producing through Hartbeat. The logline never changed. An international crew lifts $500 million in gold off a passenger plane at 40,000 feet. They shot from February to May 2022 in Italy and Northern Ireland, plus Shepperton. Belfast Harbour Studios. Miramare Castle in Trieste. Trade coverage pegged the budget at $100 million. latestnetflix.com's view is that uK company filings later showed about $132 million in gross spend by the end of 2023, with tax credits and a Northern Ireland screen award pulling Netflix's net near $103 million.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2L-Sa_6MU0
The date on the calendar was August 25, 2023. The SAG-AFTRA strike shoved it to January 12, 2024. Five extra months, and the culture moved. TechRadar listed Lift among six Netflix movies delayed when actors could not promote. The film was finished. The campaign was not. Variety called the result a case study in the downside of timeliness, a caper predicated on an NFT gaining value after a staged kidnapping. Jacob Batalon plays the artist N8. That gag might have zipped in 2021. By the time Hart's trailer hit, the tokens were already a punchline. , 
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Viewers clicked. Critics did not.
Rotten Tomatoes landed at 30 percent from 70 reviews. Metacritic 40. The Guardian said Hart was a hard sell as an art thief and clocked a total lack of chemistry with Gugu Mbatha-Raw's Interpol agent Abby Gladwell. The Hollywood Reporter's bottom line was that the movie failed to inspire much intrigue. Netflix still counted 129 million views by the end of June 2024, second among its films for the half year, behind Damsel. That split is the story. A critic-proof heist from the Fate of the Furious director, a stand-up as the mastermind, and a homepage that did not care about the Tomatometer. , , ,
Gray already had The Italian Job on his resume. Netflix still spent like this was a theatrical Fast film that never had to open on a Friday. He told Variety he shifted the opening to a Venice boat chase and worked the Hart and Mbatha-Raw dynamic, then entertained franchise talk. Hart told theGrio the job was the ensemble. Vincent D'Onofrio, Ursula Corbero, Billy Magnussen, Jean Reno as the banker terrorist, Sam Worthington as the Interpol boss who greenlights a NATO shootdown. The trailer still sells the 777. Whether anyone funds Lift 2 is a different steal. , ,
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.
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