आर्मड

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.

I had been amazed by director Antal's Kontroll back in 2003. His first American project, Vacancy, was less impressive but a decent start. Armored is his second feature and while the visual signature is recognizable, the film never rises above the level of a B movie.

It's a shame because the main premise has all the ingredients for twists and turns and the ensemble cast featuring many quality actors should be able to deliver. Antal could have made a great heist film but instead goes for an action flick. Then again he could have shot a cool action flick but it doesn't really deliver in that department either.

What you are left with is one implausible situation after another, a group of poorly sketched characters bicker and fight over a sum of money. If you look past the sharp cinematography, cast and the tight music score, you're left with what could have been a below average direct-to-video featuring Van Damme or Seagal.

This was probably the most disappointing movie for me in quite some time.

The war veteran Ty Hackett (Columbus Short) is hired to work as security guard by the Eagle Shield Security where his old friend Mike Cochroone (Matt Dyllon) works. Ty is having financial difficulties after the death of his father and is raising his brother Jimmy (Andre Jamal Kinney) alone. He teams up with Mike's brother-in-law Baines (Laurence Fishburne) and their coworkers Quinn (Jean Reno), Palmer (Amaury Nolasco) and Dobbs (Skeet Ulrich). One night, Mike invites Ty to robber the two armored trucks that will transport forty-two million dollars. The reluctant Ty accepts after the promise of Mike that nobody would be hurt in the heist. They bring the trucks to an old mill and hide the money in a hole; however their operation is witnessed by a tramp. Baines shots the man with his shotgun and Ty decides to help him; but when Mike executes the homeless man, Ty locks himself inside a truck with half the amount.

"Armored" is an action movie about an almost perfect plan to heist two armored trucks by the security guards that should protect the transported money. The key character is the ambiguous Ty, a man that is facing financial difficulties in his private life that accept to participate in the heist but betrays his friends. Therefore, the hero of "Armored" is actually a traitor that is rewarded in the end. This unlikable character should have been better developed in the screenplay to give a better explanation for his despicable attitude (the betrayal). On the other hand, the naiveness of the five experienced men inviting a newcomer on the eve of the scheduled date of a heist sounds very unreasonable. It is impressive how fat Laurence Fishburne is. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Assalto ao Carro Blindado" ("Heist of the Armored Car")

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.

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.