Cyrus, a renowned international thief, leads a heist crew that consists of Denton, pilot Camila, hacker Mi-Sun, safecracker Magnus, and engineer Luke. They undertake two simultaneous thefts, stealing a Van Gogh painting in London while staging the fake kidnapping of renowned NFT artist N8 in Venice. At first, N8 is shocked that he is kidnapped but Cyrus points out that famous paintings rapidly increase in value after being stolen and he says that his crew stole the Van Gogh painting and sold it in the black market for $20 million to buy N8 NFTs. After being "kidnapped", N8's NFT ballooned in value to $89 million. N8 decides to play along after being promised a cut of the money.
However, Interpol agent Abby Gladwell, a former fling of Cyrus, uncovers evidence implicating Denton, Luke, and Magnus in the thefts. Rather than proceed with charges against the crew, Abby’s superior, Commander Huxley, leverages their legal predicament to force them to help capture billionaire Lars Jorgenson, who intends to make more money by working with the hacking group Leviathan to stage a massive flooding in Europe, allowing him to make billions in profit through stock manipulation. As Leviathan requires payment in untraceable gold bullion, Jorgenson has arranged for a shipment of gold to be taken from his vault in London and flown to Leviathan’s bank in Zurich via a commercial airliner. As part of the deal, Cyrus insists Abby join the team to provide certain cover for Interpol.
The crew determines they will only be able to steal the gold while the airliner is in mid-air. To do so, they procure a private jet that Camila will fly directly underneath the airliner, allowing Mi-Sun to switch the radar signals to make it seem like the plane is still on course while the crew diverts it to a private airfield. After Magnus cracks the safe and Jorgenson's henchmen are incapacitated, the crew will extract the gold via the jet.
Their timing is complicated when Jorgenson executes a mole in his organization and moves up the delivery date. Nevertheless, the crew is ready on time. After successfully diverting the plane, Jorgenson’s henchmen attempt an hijack, resulting in the plane crash landing. Magnus, Abby, Cyrus, and Camila are captured. Magnus escapes on the ground, while the remaining three are taken aboard the jet with the gold, headed for Jorgenson’s estate in Tuscany.
Desperate for the gold to not reach Jorgenson, Huxley orders the plane shot down by NATO. Harry, the crew’s contact at air traffic control, works with Camila to get a message to the pilots that there are hostages on board, forcing them to stand down. Another fight between the crew and Jorgenson’s henchmen results in the jet crash landing on the grounds of Jorgenson’s villa.
Abby, Cyrus, and Camila are captured at gunpoint by Jorgenson, who also executes Leviathan’s representative after they decide to cancel the deal. The Carabinieri arrive, and Cyrus uses N8’s NFT technology to show them a recording of Jorgenson murdering the representative. Jorgenson is arrested, while Abby punches Huxley upon learning he authorized the NATO jets. She resigns from Interpol and joins Cyrus.
Weeks later, Cyrus reveals to Abby that the crew stole the gold shipment during the heist on the airliner, replacing the actual shipment with iron bars painted to look like gold. Together, the crew recover their gold haul and celebrate their success whilst Cyrus and Abby kindle their relationship.
Cast
Kevin Hart as Cyrus, a renowned thief and leader of the heist crew
Lift was released on Netflix on January 12, 2024.[9] It was originally scheduled to be released on August 25, 2023,[10] however, it was postponed as a result of the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike in the United States.[11]
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 30% of 60 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.6/10. The website's consensus reads: "Lift may be a passable streaming option for viewers seeking mindless entertainment, but that doesn't excuse its thinly written characters or formulaic, haphazardly written story."[12]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 40 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[13]
