Juego de ladrones

While I can understand why talented actor Robert Forster (who looks somewhat ghastly here, like he's coming off a major illness) is appearing in a direct-to-video movie (at least in North America), I don't understand why Morgan Freeman and Antonio Banderas are doing in a direct-to-video movie. Surely they are still getting calls from major studios? Did they really need the money? Anyway, they bring their natural charisma to this movie... but not much more. Freeman doesn't seem to be trying very hard in his performance, and Banderas doesn't watch his accent, making some of the words he says hard to figure out.

The production values are mostly very decent, a trademark of direct-to-video kings Millennium/Nu Image Films. Although this set-in-New-York film was partially filmed in Bulgaria, it doesn't show. The only flaw in the production values was the CGI used in the subway sequences. It looks pretty cheesy.

The heist central to this movie has some tension, but I found it hard to get involved. For one thing, many of the steps the Freeman and Banderas characters use to foil the various security measures are never fully explained to the audience. Even worse is that it's implied that this heist was planned in JUST A FEW DAYS! Seeming all these security measures they have to conquer, it would really take weeks, even months to plan! The movie is never really boring, but in the first half of the movie you can kind of guess what will happen in the next scene. There are twists towards the end, but they are expected, as in other caper movies like this one. Such twists happening are no longer a surprise. Plus, as they start to unfold, you will start to guess just what new twists will happen.

Wait until it comes on cable... on a rainy day... when there's absolutely nothing else to do or watch.

"The Code" or "Thick as Thieves" as it is called is a 2009 film starring Morgan Freeman, Antonio Banderas, Radha Mitchell, and Robert Forrester.

The story concerns a slippery thief, Keith Ripley (Freeman), who teams up with a thief from Miami, Gabriel (Banderas) to steal antique Faberge eggs that are kept in a vault surrounded by huge security trappings at a jewelry store named Romanov's.

Ripley needs to do the theft as a debt payment for his late brother, who was mixed up with a Russian mobster. He wants the eggs, and he's determined to get them. They are being watched by Lieutenant Weber, who has been trying to get Ripley for years.

Freeman and Banderas didn't have much chemistry, and Freeman, of course, is capable of roles having much more depth. So both kind of glided along, Banderas using his charm, and Freeman his geniality.

Derivative story with a couple of twists. A decent rental.

To be honest I expected a lot more from this film, with Morgan Freeman, a veteran movie maker. However I was a little shocked at the lack of action in this movie.

Yes it was full of faces you may recognise from other movies but to be honest that's about where it leaves you. There were no amazing car chases, not enough action etc.

About the only half decent thing in this movie was the seriously slow unwinding plot twist.

Not a great movie overall, not one I would consider watching again. I guess Morgan is getting on a bit, maybe that attributed to the lack of "things"?

Thick as Thieves is pretty much as lousy as heist films get. It's lazy, derivative, and really quite offensive in the way it leans back in your favourite chair, flicks cigarette ash on your carpet while smirking at you and telling you there's nothing you can do to stop it as you've already paid your money.

The twists are both of everyone's least-favourite flavour: one you can spot a mile off and the other one - while unexpected - you won't give a hoot about. The heist too is lazy, but by that point you won't be surprised even if you can remember all the talk of it being an impossible job. Your expectations will be so low you'll tell yourself it's par for the course. Both Morgan Freeman (usually reliable) and Antonio Banderas (usually intolerable) coast by with just the pilot light on, totally lacking chemistry, and only Radha Mitchell comes away with any kind of credibility, doing decent work and putting in far more effort than her underwritten character deserves.

Well, this is a movie to watch for fun, when your favorite stars are in. Nothing special or amazing. Just the usual stuff, even the greatest twists are predictable from the beginning.