Il colpo

In "Heist", Hackman plays and aging thief who, saddled with a beautiful young wife, no pension, and the disintegration of the old school thief ethic, decides to pull one last job so he can sail off into the sunset with his babe. The film, fraught with implausibilities, is all about who's the smarter thief (which, of course, would be the one with all the loot at the end) and deals with strategizing, conflict containment, greed, and other thief problems while forsaking action stuff (stunts, chases, sex, etc) as it labors through its somewhat convoluted plot. Good old Hollywood thief stuff with a solid cast worth a watch. Turn off brain and enjoy.

This movie has one twist too many. The actual heist is so complicated that the desired tension sags earlier than it should. Heist has nothing of the suspense of a Hitchcock thriller, and trying to outwit your opponent gets boring after a while when you start forgetting what it is all about. There are some nice scenes around the airport though, some memorable dialogue ("everybody needs money, that's why it's called money"), and it's always fun to watch great professionals like Hackman, Rockwell and DeVito. Mamet's stock actor Ricky Jay adds flavour to the movie as usual, Rebecca Pigeon's part was ungrateful to play and somehow superfluous.

Hackman and his boys are doing The Swiss Job. Some old and newer clichés of my country pop up, viewers here were amused. And, believe me, the Swiss are always pleased when someone across the Atlantic acknowledges their mere existence, in whatever way this is done. Well, I have to go now: It's time to wind up my cuckoo-clock and to put a second lock on my own private stash of gold bullions.

Knowing the quality of Mamet's previous works, maybe I expected too much out of this one, but as it stands I just wasn't impressed by this film. Am I the only one who got bored during this movie? The characters were good except Fran (Rebecca Pidgeon). She is just there to deliver one-liners the whole time and provide sex appeal. I know her demeanor is quiet and conniving, but she just struts around waiting to make overly witty replies. The rest of the cast were excellent, Delroy Lindo outshined Hackman as his right-hand thug, Ricky Jay pulls off the calm and collected badass, Sam Rockwell delivers a good presence that you just hate, DeVito was awesome as the break-your-balls "bad" criminal and Hackman played his part well as he always does.

The story bored me however. You knew what was going to happen before it happened and there were too many twists in the movie that they lost their affect. Twists are good when used sparingly and when used at the right time. I didn't like the timing of them in this movie or the overuse of them. It got boring because the characters always pull something out of their hat when you "least expect it."

For me dialogue has to be two things, witty and believable. Now the dialogue in this film is witty, Mamet probably took a while to compile all these quotes into one movie, but it is too much. It is simply to much. All Rebecca Pidgeon says is these crafty responses and she engages no real conversation. As for believable, people don't speak like this. No one, not even the coolest cat in the world and half the time I am trying to figure out what the hell they mean.

The plot is way too contrived, it is too much. Their is a backup plan, for a backup plan, for a backup plan, for a ... The scene on the runway was crap, impossible. Never would have happened. Too many "overly" perfect plans and too many twists make this plot boring to watch.

Wait for the rental.

After an elaborate jewel robbery Joe Moore and his crew go to collect their cut from Bergman. However Bergman ropes them into another job – taking gold from a Swiss airline prior to transfer. Joe reluctantly agrees to do the job and takes Bergman's nephew along to reassure him. However Joe is never without a backup plan and double cross follows double cross.

This really tries to be good – it has a good sense of tough moodiness about it and has plenty of good lines and a top class cast. However it tries too hard to be a twisty crime thriller and doesn't quite convince. Where twists and double crosses are best is when they are unexpected and surprising. Heist has so many `twists' that they lack impact or power. Instead of being surprised we expect the next one to be only a few seconds away. Although some of them are clever most of them lack the punch Mamet clearly wanted them to have. That said it's still an enjoyable thriller but don't expect the plot to stand up in the cold light of day.

As I said the cast are famous and all do well. Hackman is grizzled but clever and can easily `do tough', Lindo is always good to watch but Ricky Jay seems out of place. I always find him easy to watch because he is naturally curious I think but his manner doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the cast. DeVito and Rockwell are good. It would be hard to compete in such a male driven plot and indeed Pidgeon struggles to get a character for herself.

The cast do so well because Mamet is a good writer of dialogue – even if he overdid the twists, lines are quotable, funny or just cool – `My motherf****r is so cool when he goes to sleep sheep count him' or `don't you want to hear my last words?' – `I just did'. Even if the plot doesn't convince the direction, the dialogue and the cast make this better than the mess it should be.

Overall it has good qualities, but the one driving force it needed was a much better story. It's entertaining enough to pass 100 minutes – but really the many word that comes to mind is disappointing.

After watching this a second time I realize that it's one of those movies that has barely anything wrong with it! Honestly, the dialogue is good, the action is good and the music is really good. Great performances by Gene Hackman, Delroy Lindo, Danny DeVito, Rebecca Pidgeon, Ricky Jay and Sam Rockwell in a surprisingly villanious role.

The only thing about the film that somebody may be put off by though, is the fact that the viewer doesn't have any idea what's going on until halfway through it. I really enjoyed it though!

I give this movie an 8 out of 10! Recommend it to all who like crime movies!