Rating of
2.5/4
"Where's the GOLD?!?!?!?" (Repeat 10x)
Indyfreak - wrote on 10/06/14
Heist is an interesting example of a movie that is in retrospect a surprisingly unoriginal one in terms of storytelling. But it's so enthusiastically carried out as far as the acting and screenplay go that in the moment, it convinces the audience they're watching something new. The characters are a collage of cliches: the veteran thief (Hackman), the femme fatale (Rebecca Pidgeon), the black sidekick (Delroy Lindo), the quirky redshirt (Ricky Jay), the impulsive upstart (Sam Rockwell), and the big bad (Danny DeVito). The plot itself is just another "one last job" kind of storyline but again the script is often clever and the witty dialogue revels in its hardboiled pessimism. Most of the acting is good enough though Sam Rockwell's character is (as many characters point out) a pretty "lame" antagonist who's outmatched by the shorter but far more intimidating Danny DeVito. For anyone unfamiliar with director-writer David Mamet and his trademarks, "Heist" is an unimaginative but entertaining way to start.
