Armored

Sandwiched between his VACANCY and PREDATORS, ARMORED is director Nimrod Antal's best film, although to be fair that isn't saying much. It's one of those single-location action movies with a relatively low budget (by Hollywood standards), most of which has been spent on assembling an ensemble cast of tough-guy actors. Matt Dillon, Jean Reno, Laurence Fishburne and Fred Ward, all of whom have appeared in great movies, are in supply here, albeit in supporting roles.

It's also a chance to find out what happened to SCREAM's Skeet Ulrich, if anybody cares these days. Sadly, there are two problems with ARMORED; the first is the no-name lead Columbus Short, a guy whose acting skills are pretty insipid, so you don't really care much about whether his character wins or loses. The second is the PG-13 rating, which eliminates the kind of hard-hitting violence of the early DIE HARDs that this film so desperately needs.

Saying that, it turns out to be a pretty entertaining little thriller. The storyline is basic in the extreme, but I'm a sucker for these single-location movies and in some ways the simplicity of the plot is more appealing than something in which the plotting is overdone, like MAN ON A LEDGE. The narrative is lean, pared-down and propelled by some good, surprising twists thrown into the mix. All of the big names give solid performances, and if it does get a little cheesy at times then that's par for the course. I'd rather a film be cheesy and entertaining than realistic and dull!

I went to see this movie today, with hopes that it would involve an at least half-intelligent story. I was extremely disappointed, as it did not. The plot, and the decisions by the main character, were so far-fetched. I was hoping for a "Dog Day Afternoon"-type movie, but instead got something totally unacceptable. I actually found myself totally hoping for the "hero" to be knocked off, and I nearly walked out of the theater on several occasions when this should have happened but didn't. Heist movies are notmeant to be feel-good flicks, and this one tried to be just that. Every couple of minutes during the second half of the movie, I found myself saying, "no way". Without giving the whole story away, it revolved around an armored car guard who was financially down and out, and whose house was going into foreclosure. He was invited in on a heist, and accepted, only to back down once the action began. Weak.

I was disappointed. I usually like heist movies but this one - "Armored" - was not smart, if you want a heist movie where they put together a great plan for the heist and there is tension to see if the plan will succeed and if they can get away with the money this is not that type of movie.

The heist plan in this film is one that was put together by dumb brutes and is not a focus of the movie. The movie is all about bloody action scenes with guns. Probably the biggest star in the movie is Laurence Fishburne, and he has put on a lot of weight and gotten fat, and none of the acting is all that good for any of the characters. But even as a dumb action movie it isn't anything special or worth seeing.

Armored tells the story of a few armored truck company workers who conjure a plan to steal 42 million dollars that they were suppose to transport. To pull this off, they need Ty, an Iraq war veteran who just joined the company. At first, Ty refuses to be a part of the scheme, but he desperately needs the money since he's in risk of loosing his house and his little brother might be taken away from him. Ty ends up agreeing with the all thing, but not before Mike, the leader of the guards, promise that no one will get hurt... Armored is a fast-moving heist film with a good amount of action and some unpredictable twists. Obviously, everyone can tell that things are not going to go smoothly but still, there are a few surprises and the film doesn't become predictable at any point. Looking at the cast of Armored, which is comprised by very well known actors like Jean Reno, Laurence Fishburn and Matt Dillon, one might expect a tremendous film given the quality of the actors, but that's not case. I'm not saying it's a bad film, it's not by any means but, it's not a film with depth either. If you're expecting something like that you'll be disappointed. This is a popcorn movie, there's not much to think about here, just turn your brain off and enjoy it. The acting was average with the exception of Matt Dillon who really stood out as the leader of the "bad guys". His character is a mean son of a bitch and Dillon played the role perfectly. The film fell a bit short in the third act though because the ending seemed a bit rushed. Bottom line is, Armored is entertaining and therefor a good watch, just make sure you know what kind film you're about to see.

6/10

Good, boring or bad? It's good. Worth your money? If you can spare it for a ticket, sure. Better than the trailer makes it seem? Yes, oddly.

There isn't much to the script - Guards working at armored truck company move vast amounts of cash. Guards see opportunity to retire as millionaires, one of them is too honest to go along with it all, and a well-laid plan goes to hell.

This could have been a poorly-executed Reservoir Dogs ripoff, but the skill of the cast and the director's ability to make just about anything tense pull it out of that realm and put it onto a solid footing.