The Opportunists

Ah, the joys of watching Walken -I could watch him read the phonebook and be captivated (hey he should do that sometime) This film is an excellent one. It has a very nice low-key mood. It takes place in Queens (where I live and breathe) It has a great safe-cracking heist plot as well as enjoyable scenes of Walken practicing his craft. see this movie when you are feeling well i don't know if i should say down but when you feel that you're miserable i guess this is a fine film to watch--not that its depressing but I mean thelow-key approach works perfectly and the score fits in perfectly with the movie. which i for one enjoyed here more and really only noticed during the end-credits and it has actuall characters as opposed to cardboard cutouts that the actors take and make nbeautiful music with. . The real joy in watching this movie is in the performances and in them the way the story unfolds. It is so great to see walken acting in a calm role that is much more of a person then the usuall role he takes the scene-stealing villian (which I must admit I am a huge fan of) but walken is so much more than that as witnessed in great films like this, and(I'm not comparing films here) natrually his oscar wining role in "The Deer Hunter" I"ve seen him on stage in Joyce's "The Dead" and a play which he wrote himself some years ago called "Him" Ah that was a great play seriously best damn play! Ok, so you know I think the world of Walken and that any and every movie could benefit form giving him a bit part in it but I don't mean to take away from the rest of the cast here and this film is excellently acted all around I mean this is truly a character film and this movie simply could not work if they didn't have a good cast First of all- Who knew Cyndi Lauper could act?? I mean I liked the three or four epiosdes she did on "Mad about You" but she wasn't holding her own with walken there. While she's not in that many scenes she's surprisingly good and therefore hope to see her in something else that's good Donal Louge who's everywhere now (thoughts I once had about Walken) continues to build up his resume quite impressively

and of course Peter McDonald as the instigator of the whole film He has a reletively thick irish accent but if you listen carefully its not hard at all to get what he's saying and Jose Zuniga and Vera Farmiga and oh hey Tom Noonan who makes a brief return from career obscurity (or is it oblivion at this stage) to play that wacky supplier of safe-bustin materials His career should be resurrected if only briefly Ok well the characters are great and its the actors who bring the characters to life so they deserved acolades for that but the biggest accolade has to be for writer director O'Connell who made a heist film that's really a character film and how many films can we say that about.I honestly will keep an eyeout for his next film. (I hope that Abel Ferrar is taking notes after The New Rose Hotel although The king of NY is awesome and The Funeral is terrific too but still I'm digressing again) Its low key charm was nothing short of brillant and its running time well who needs running time was without a doubt just right. While not like a fast movie the movie moves pretty swiftly as it reaches its ending without any real lull in the procedings Ok while the movie isnt perfect (i did find myself wishing that walken would just get to deliver a line in signature style which he does very quickly (you know the whole theatric gestural thing that i love)and he does have some good lines that he gets to deliver deadpan while remainning perfectly in character. ("i'm beginning to think there's something wrong with you." is just such an example) )

So in Summary as you can tell I am a huge Christopher Walken fan and even with some of the dreck he's been in--he's always entertaining and this film I can say with the utmost confidence is not dreck and if you're in the right mood-- really enjoyable. So Thank You Mr. O' Connell for writing a good script for the greatest actor in the universe!!!!

This is probably the most down-to-earth movie I have ever seen. There´s is absolutely nothing that happened in this movie that couldn´t have happened to you or me. Yet, still the film has a solid and interesting dialog, also very down-to-earth.

It took a while to swallow the feeling I got just after the movie. My first thought was: "Oh no, what a week story and what a boring dialog". But after a while I thought the exact opposite. This movie was definitely better than what I first realized.

6+ out of 10, is my rating.

Christopher Walken and his girlfriend played by Cindi lauper are both New Yorkers so I'm certain they both felt right at home in their roles. Many who like fast action, snappy dialog types of films will be bored with this one. However, for those like me who enjoy a great, well-developed character study carried out in about 88 minutes, this is worth a viewing.

Walken plays a safe-cracker who has served his time and trying to go straight, working as a mechanic, and paying for his old aunt to stay in a home run by nuns. Always on the verge of debt, the sale of his car is saboutaged by someone wanting to get him to do one more job, the safe at the armored car office. So, pressured from all sides, he agrees.

In the safe, his halpess "helper", posing as a cousin from Ireland, gets Walken trapped and caught by the cops. He gets out of it when the business owner, who also runs an illegal laundering operation, fails to press charges. We see walken going back into Lauper's bar, presumably to live straight from then on.

The story thus is sorta victimless. Although Walken and the others are helped by the one money bag that is successfully stolen by the Irish guy, then split up, it was money illegally gotten. We are, I suppose, to forgive Walken because he had no choice. The most interesting scene was where he was practicing "cracking" the 3 different safe combinations within 6 minutes to avoid setting off the alarm.

The DVD is "budget" all the way - Dolby AC-3 sound, no menu, no extras. However, the sound and picture are not deficient, given the formats. Just a well-acted, low-budget film, and I enjoyed it.

Definitely low key, with only a nosebleed of violence, this caper movie is both unpredictable and entertaining. Christopher Walken, Cyndi Lauper, along with the entire cast, are excellent. What drives the film into above average territory is tremendous character development. We actually get to know who is pulling the heist, rather than rushing into it. So what you get is a very quiet film with likable characters who you care about. If you are looking for an edge of your seat high tech robbery movie, avoid this. If on the other hand you would like to relax and take time to understand some interesting thieves, seek out "The Opportunists". - MERK

This movie was paced really well and the characters were are very believable. I was especially suprised I enjoyed Cyndi Lauper's acting. Quite Good.

I am a Christopher Walken fan so probably would enjoyed it more than others. Even so it was a good, down to earth story with some morals.

It was interesting, funny and really very enjoyable. I liked the quirky humour and was glad I watched it.

I would definitely recommend it to anyone.

See it.