The screen special effect named Kevin Hart takes a back seat to gadgets, gear and CGI exploits in “Lift,” one hundred or so minutes in which the funnyman tries to remake himself as a cool, rough-and-tumble master thief/romantic lead.

Sure. Worth a try.

Hart produced this high-end heist picture, surrounds himself with a star-studded international cast including Gugu Mbatha-Raw as romantic interest, Jean Reno and Burn Gorman as villains, Vincent D’Onofrio as a colorful colleague and Sam Worthington as a troublesome Interpol cop.

“Set it Off/Straight Outta Compton/Fate of the Furious” director F. Gary Gray was brought in make the planes run on time in this tale of an airborne gold heist.

On paper, this story of art thieves strong-armed into stealing gold from a murderous financier of terrorists might have played. But right from the start, an over-explained art theft that includes kidnapping an identity-hiding NFT artist (Jacob Batalon, always funnier than this) to boost the resale value of the theft, “Lift” fails to get off the ground.

An insistent score by Dominic Kewis and Guillaume Roussel keeps reminding us we should be at the edge of our seat. We’re not. Hart’s presence suggests we’ll at least get some one-liners. But nah, he’s too cool, trying to “stretch” his persona with this lame, clunky caper comedy without laughs and heist thriller short on thrills.

Hart is Cyrus, mastermind who leads a crew that includes pilot Camilla (Úrsula Corberó), master of disguise Denton (D’Onofrio, kind of funny), hacker Mi-Sun (Yun Jee Kim), safecracker Magnus (Billy Magnussen) and I-forget-his-magic-skillset-Luke (Viveik Kalra).

Their mark is a financier/arms dealer/terrorist-backer (Reno), someone Mister Interpol (Worthington) orders Interpol Art Crimes unit cop Abby (Mbatha-Raw of “Belle” and TV’s “Loki”) to make happen.

Hart brings the star-power and Netflix deal that gets this movie made. But all he brings to the picture are a couple of sharp suits, one mid-air fight scene, and a whole lot of “explaining” what just happened/what “really” happened.

You’d think a guy with his ego would demand better dialogue than simple exposition, or lines meant to suggest “history” with “Remember Corsica?” “You remember Paris?” “Remember Venice?”

Yeah, the last one we remember, because “Venice” and an art auction robbery is what opens the picture.

There’s barely a laugh or interesting, much less exciting moment in this. Hart & Co. had little idea that it’s rarely the “heist” that makes a heist picture. It’s the colorful characters (mostly colorless here), the zippy twists and zingy one-liners.

F. Gary Gray should have pointed that out. He’s made a passable “Italian Job” remake, an audience-appreciating “Fast/Furious” film, and a lot of dogs — “A Man Apart,” “Law Abiding Citizen,” “Be Cool,” “Men in Black International.” He, at least, knows the difference between a promising script and one that isn’t remotely on target.

Rating: PG-13, violence, some profanity

Cast: Kevin Hart, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Jean Reno, Sam Worthington, Ursula Corbero, Jacob Batalon, Burn Gormen and Vincent D’Onofrio.

Credits: Directed by F. Gary Gray, scripted by Jeremy Donner and Daniel Kunka. A Netflix release.

Running time: 1:44