Easy Money: Le dernier souffle

What I will always remind from this film is the long take heist sequence and some scenes related to the preparation of the heist, the drills in the empty abandoned warehouse. Like a military operation. The heist, that's only what I liked, I loved, in this movie. That's the third or fourth time I see it and only for this reason. I forget the rest, as the two other EASY MONEY films. Last week, I reviewed THE QUIET ONES, proposing a very similar heist, in a security complex facility for armored trucks. This very movie here is rather a bit complex, too much for me. But it's not a crap, not at all. I just give my opinion and also my feeling.

The original 'Easy Money' was an above-average thriller about an ordinary guy who gets involved with gangsters; the sequel basically re-hashed the same plot, but more cheesily. This third, hastily-bashed out film, is easily the worst of the lot, a thriller with an amateurishly complex plot and equally amateurishly simple acting, with a heavy reliance on flashbacks to retrospectively make sense of the story. The plot themes are only loosely connected to those of the earlier movies; the decision to turn killer Jorge into a romantic hero is a surprising one. Overall, this has a "straight to video" feel, and leaves the strong impression that the film-makers didn't know how to make a proper movie, couldn't afford it, or just couldn't be bothered. In any case, the discerning viewer doesn't need to watch the trilogy to its end.

Overall, a solid ending to a well crafted gangster trilogy. Joel K. only has a handful of scenes, which is the primary weakness in an otherwise nicely done film. I do want to read the books on which these films are based. And that is a good sign from my perspective.

The last instalment of the EASY MONEY trilogy is the least of the three thanks to its disjointed nature, but it's still unmissable viewing for anybody who's seen the other two. EASY MONEY III: LIFE DELUXE continues the trend from the first two films of containing beautifully shot scenes of characters struggling with the trials and tribulations of their criminal lives.

Once again there's a wonderfully tense and wonderfully shot heist scene to enjoy, along with some involvement with a crime family that brings to mind the glory days of the gangster film, THE GODFATHER et al. Matias Varela gets the lion's share of the screen time as the small-fry bad guy still trying to make it big, although Joel Kinnaman fans will be disappointed that he barely has a cameo in this one. Still, there are plenty of involving sub-plots in EASY MONEY III and most of them are hard-hitting and intense, although with the extra complexity comes extra confusion, making this the least satisfying of the trilogy.

No pun intended - the conclusion of the Easy Money (aka Snabba Cash) trilogy. Although there is a tv show with that name that may be worth my and everybody elses time of course. But let's dig in at the movie at hand here. I assume you have seen the previous two movies. That is a given - there won't be too much looking back in the movie itself either. So if you do not know your characters ... you may not have the full experience here.

That being said, certain characters take a back seat - at least on the surface. Because while some are gone (one major character from the first two movies died in the second movie), we get introduced to new people ... but also see others in new light. While I wasn't sure what could be done and said after the first movie ... the triolgy showed me that even if not planned (I doubted it in my review of the first movie from 10 years ago), we get quite a few new conclusions ... you may not agree with all of them ... maybe some twists may feel a bit stretched ... especially towards the end ... but good or bad ... I think we finally reached the end ... and overall the good conquers the bad (no pun intended) ...