Kevin Hart’s New Netflix Movie Turns Its Best Actor Into A Huge Missed Opportunity

Kevin Hart’s new Netflix Movie, Lift, has an impressive lineup of actors, but there’s one in particular who is mishandled throughout the film. While the Lift cast does feature some less familiar faces, there are also some very recognizable names in the movie’s key roles. Some characters, such as Kevin Hart’s Cyrus Whitaker, are hinted to have a rich backstory and are used well. However, not every member of the movie’s acting talent is quite so fortunate. Lift follows an elite crew of art thieves, and while it isn’t one of the best heist movies, it’s still slick and well-executed.

The cast of characters, led by Kevin Hart, is cut a deal by Interpol in the film in return for their assistance with lifting a fortune’s worth of gold bars from a plane. Although the focus is on the heist itself, the budding romance between Cyrus and Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s Abby Gladwell becomes a prominent sub-plot. The movie is dense with figures who all have a specific skill set, but one of the team’s characters never lives up to his initial potential.

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Netflix’s Lift Underutilizes Vincent D’Onofrio

D’Onofrio’s role in Lift doesn’t reflect his acting abilities

The movie identifies Denton, Vincent D’Onofrio’s character in Lift, as a “master of disguise.” The label implies that D’Onofrio’s versatile acting will be put on display, perhaps making use of an array of interesting personas. However, Denton ends up being a fairly useless member of Cyrus’ crew, a fact that’s never openly acknowledged in the movie. Lift tries to put Denton across as the movie’s comic relief, and while D’Onofrio does his best with what he’s given, the actor is never afforded the chance to fully explore his character’s potential.

As a result, rather than showcasing D’Onofrio’s impressive range, it’s almost as if he’s been shoehorned into the movie. Whatever limited advantages Denton offers would be better spread among its other members. While having an accomplice in disguise can provide an edge, it would be amplified if everyone were equally effective at concealing their respective identities. Instead, Denton becomes something of a spare part, when D’Onofrio is capable of so much more.

Lift Teases That Denton Will Be A Pivotal Character

The Netflix movie offers false hope for Denton’s importance

Although it’s not known at the time, Denton is one of the first members of Cryus’ crew shown on-screen. His role as the competing bidder against Cyrus cashes in on D’Onofrio’s reputation for playing interesting TV villains such as Daredevil‘s Kingpin. His faux British accent also adds to the illusion, addressing the trope that such an inflection can often help identify the bad guy in Hollywood movies.

As it turns out, the bidder in question is Denton, and not only does he not really need to be in disguise, but he also fails in his deception and is taken in by Abby and Interpol for questioning. After an intriguing start to Denton’s story, his presence in the movie becomes much less exciting. Besides a moment showing Denton offering Cyrus a piece of sage advice, D’Onofrio’s character becomes rather inert, contributing very little to the mission.

Denton displays no technical abilities, unlike his savvy fellow thieves. When large aspects of the movie are based on high-concept computing feats, Denton’s place in the team becomes even more confusing, as he has little to offer besides a collection of wigs, props, and outfits. Past the opening scene where he runs interference during the bidding war for the NFT, the writers seem unsure about what to do with Denton.

D’Onofrio’s Denton Character In Lift Held Promise But Ultimately Fell Flat

Vincent D’Onofrio’s presence in the movie was wasted

The concept of Denton as a character is sound, but the movie never fully leans into whether he is brilliant at disguises, or comically bad. Either option would have been better than the middle ground on which the writers settled. Instead, Denton becomes a bland and useless character because of indecisiveness regarding the level of his talents. To make an actor of D’Onofrio’s caliber one of the least interesting parts of a movie is a difficult feat, but one that is unfortunately achieved by Lift.

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A prime example of how D’Onofrio is mishandled in Lift comes after the plane’s crash landing. Once the gold is transferred onto the decoy plane, Denton isn’t shown again for a sizable amount of time. When the movie finally checks in on his whereabouts, he’s exactly where he was the last time he was shown – sitting in his seat on an abandoned jet. D’Onofrio could have been a huge part of the Lift cast, but there just wasn’t enough effort put into his character.