SAS: Red Notice

There is something inherently funny about a man trying to propose to his girlfriend while simultaneously wondering if he should snap a mercenary’s neck with a rolled-up magazine. SAS: Red Notice introduces us to Tom Buckingham, played by Sam Heughan of Outlander fame, a man who is "castle-rich," incredibly lethal, and—according to the script’s favorite talking point—a functional psychopath. As I sat down to watch this, clutching a lukewarm cup of peppermint tea that had developed a weird oily film on top, I realized I was settling into a very specific sub-genre of contemporary cinema: the "Streaming Era Actioner."

Released in early 2021, when the world was still largely squinting at screens from the safety of their couches, SAS: Red Notice feels like a movie designed to be discovered while scrolling through a digital library at 10:00 PM on a Tuesday. It’s based on the novel by Andy McNab, a man whose real-world SAS credentials usually provide a veneer of tactical authenticity to his fiction. Here, director Magnus Martens tries to blend that grit with the high-gloss sheen of a global blockbuster, resulting in a film that is surprisingly competent in its action but occasionally baffling in its tone.

The Psychopath’s Guide to Romance

The plot is a classic "wrong place, wrong time" setup. Buckingham is taking his girlfriend, Dr. Sophie Hart (Hannah John-Kamen, who did great work in Ant-Man and the Wasp), to Paris on the Eurostream train. Unfortunately for their engagement plans, a group of mercenaries known as the Black Swans, led by a chillingly detached Ruby Rose, hijacks the train deep under the English Channel.

What makes this different from your standard Die Hard clone is the film’s obsession with psychopathy. The movie posits that to catch a monster, you need a monster who happens to work for the "good guys." Sam Heughan plays Buckingham with a stiff-upper-lip coldness that fits the character description, though I couldn't help but feel the script was trying a bit too hard to make him "edgy." There’s a scene early on where he kills a rebel in a jungle and then casually checks his watch; it’s the kind of character beat that feels like it was written by someone who thinks the John Wick films are documentaries.

The standout, however, is Andy Serkis as George Clements. Serkis, best known for his motion-capture brilliance in The Lord of the Rings and Planet of the Apes, is clearly having the most fun of anyone on screen. He plays a high-level government fixer with the kind of weary cynicism that suggests he’s seen a thousand Tom Buckinghams come and go. Every time the movie cuts away from the claustrophobic train tunnels to the smoky rooms of political power, the energy spikes.

Tight Corridors and Tactical Takedowns

When the film stops talking about "emotional voids" and starts throwing punches, it finds its rhythm. The geography of a train is a gift to action directors—it’s a linear, cramped environment where there’s nowhere to hide. Magnus Martens utilizes the narrow corridors of the Eurostream to create some genuinely tense encounters. The stunt work feels physical and heavy, a far cry from the weightless CGI brawls that dominate the current superhero landscape.

There is a sequence in the train’s service tunnels that feels like a throwback to 90s action cinema. It’s all flickering lights, steam pipes, and tactical gear. The film benefits from having Andy McNab as a producer; apparently, McNab insisted on the actors undergoing rigorous weapons training to ensure their "room clearing" looked legitimate. You can see it in the way Heughan moves—there’s a deliberate, predatory efficiency to his motions that makes the action feel grounded, even when the plot becomes increasingly absurd.

However, the film struggles with its villain. Ruby Rose has a striking screen presence, but her character, Grace Lewis, is written with such a singular note of "ruthless" that she becomes a bit of a caricature. Ruby Rose looks like she’s trying to intimidate a particularly stubborn espresso machine for most of her screentime. The dynamic between her and Heughan is supposed to be a "two sides of the same coin" mirror match, but the script doesn't quite have the depth to make that connection feel profound.

A Relic of the Early 2020s

Watching SAS: Red Notice now, it serves as a fascinating snapshot of how the industry was shifting during the pandemic. It has the budget of a mid-tier theatrical release but the soul of a "Content" play. It was dumped onto Sky Cinema in the UK and various VOD platforms elsewhere, missing the theatrical window that might have helped it build the "Red Notice" franchise it so clearly craves (not to be confused with the Dwayne Johnson Netflix film of the same name, which likely buried this one in search algorithms).

One of the more interesting "behind-the-scenes" details is that the film actually uses the "functional psychopathy" test as a core narrative device. This wasn't just a writer's whim; it’s a real psychological concept that McNab has championed in his non-fiction work. It gives the movie a weird, pseudo-educational vibe—like an action thriller crossed with a TED Talk you didn't ask for.

Despite its flaws, I found myself enjoying the sheer "B-movie" earnestness of it all. It’s a film that knows exactly what it is: a slick, violent diversion that doesn't require too much of your prefrontal cortex. It’s the kind of movie that used to thrive on DVD shelves in the early 2000s, now reborn in the digital ether. It didn't reinvent the wheel, but it certainly kept the train moving.

In an era where every action movie feels like it’s either a $200 million franchise starter or a micro-budget indie, SAS: Red Notice occupies that disappearing middle ground. It’s a solid, well-crafted thriller that is slightly undone by its own desire to be more "psychologically significant" than it actually is. If you're a fan of Sam Heughan or just want to see Andy Serkis chew some scenery while people get kicked in the face on a train, it’s a perfectly acceptable way to spend two hours. Just don't expect it to stay in your head much longer than the credits crawl.