The Hard Easy

David Boreanaz is not the world's greatest actor. I know this. He has good instincts, and has even been decent in some projects, but without an experienced director to really tell him what to do, he does tend to come off looking a little amateurish.

Don't know who Ari Ryan is, but kudos to him for getting a film made. I'm sure he was paid very well. But his direction is simplistic and camera-work uninspired (and at times confusing), and for the first hour, all the characters do is bark at one another, whining about how they're not going to take part in a heist that we already know from the first scene is going to take place.

There ARE a few good one-liners... but veteran actors like Peter Weller, Bruce Dern, and even Henry Thomas (hey, he's been doing this since 1982) know how to make it work. Gary Busey managed to act sober for nearly all of his scenes. Vera Farmiga was a year away from "The Departed," and certainly does her best with what's given her, though that isn't much. Her character takes an unnecessary u-turn late in the movie, and she motivates it as best she can. But left field is left field, and lousy writing is lousy writing.

The rest of the performances just kind of lay there. To even call Nick Lachey an actor is an insult to actual actors. The plot synopsis promised two gangs of thieves doing a heist at the same bank on the same day, but the reality is that (a) it's not a bank, it's a jewelry store, (b) they're not thieves, they're amateurs, and (c) we see a bit of the heist in the opening scene, then we flashback and they spend 90 minutes talking about it, to get us back there. We already know it's going to happen, so where's the dilemma? Get to the good stuff, man, it's fun to watch RoboCop berate people and all, but no one's going to see your movie just because of Weller in a supporting role.

Really you could ditch most of the movies first half; Henry Thomas' character is at least interesting (the lovable loser), but then the movie takes a giant crap on everyone around him in the final act, making all that set-up completely irrelevant. Boreanaz' half of the movie isn't interesting at all; His character is a selfish, materialistic jerk, and he's surrounded by selfish, materialistic jerks. The audience isn't interested. Get on with it.

As a short film, this might work. It was a good idea. Unwatchable action sequences, too much exposition and too many bad actors nearly ruin the whole affair. The few good actors make it watchable... but when it ends, you'll wonder what the point of the first 60 minutes was, if the filmmakers care so little about the characters they took pains to create.

6/10. Someone give Henry Thomas a better movie, already.

In Los Angeles, the gambler Paul Weston (Henry Thomas) is a loser, and owes a lot of money to the dangerous mobster Freddie (Rae Allen). When he is brutally beaten and the life of his former wife is threatened by the Freddie, his acquaintance bartender Vinnie (Gary Busey) sends him to Dr. Charlie Brooks (Vera Farmiga) first and then he convinces him to participate of a heist in the jewelry district with the professional thief Gene (Bruce Dern) to raise the necessary money to pay his debt. Meanwhile, the stock market broker Roger Hargitay (David Boreanaz) finds that the company where he works embezzled US$ 5,000,000.00 from their clients and he will be arrested in a couple of days. His boss Ed Koster (Peter Weller) convinces Roger and two co-workers to participate in an easy robbery of a jewelry planned by an inside man. On Saturday morning, both gangs arrive in the same jewelry for the same heist at the same time.

"The Hard Easy" is a surprisingly funny and entertaining movie. The screenplay is well developed and the direction and acting are good, in spite of the exaggerated and histrionic performance of Peter Weller. The scene where Vera Farmiga "rapes" Henry Thomas is very sexy, and I really liked this film. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Duplo Assalto" ("Double Heist")

I read the previous user comment on "The hard easy" and expected the worst. The person said "If u liked this, really, spare no costs, have a brain surgery...". Sad to say, this person must have not seen this movie or needs a brain surgery himself in my opinion. I would say easily that this is the better action I have seen in a long time and that's why I give it 8/10. Names like David Boreanaz, Bruce Dern, Gary Busey and Peter Weller probably made this movie a bit more interesting than it should have been. I will give "The hard easy" extra credit for showing off David Boreanaz very nice shaped upper body. Yummy! Anyway, this is not a movie for highly religious people. The F*** word is there a lot. Actually, that is a word used in every other sentence. But besides that, the story was fun and twisting. The acting was good, even from Nick Lachey who I was not to sure about since he is a musician and has not done much before this. I assure everyone who has some IQ and liked this movie that you don't need a brain surgery! Watch "The hard easy", it is a very interesting movie and if you watch it to the end, you would get the point of this movie as well.

Sure, it's a genre picture, but a stylishly directed and well acted one. First time helmer Ryan especially gets great performances out of the character actors (Weller and Dern) who haven't had a chance to strut their stuff on screen like this in years. I do wish Ryan's talents in striking a nice balance between action, noir, and drama had been matched by a smarter screenplay (you want the plot to twist more and not just thicken). However, all in all it's a great showcase for some fine acting (not only by the aforementioned Weller and Dern; Farmiga, Boreanaz, and especially Thomas also come off quite well)and director Ryan, who seems to exhibit the same muscular craftsmanship of a young Sidney Lumet or Michael Mann.

Hello,

Trying my best to write a decent comment on this movie is frankly more than this movie deserves. So I wont bother.

This was like watching a really bad episode of the A-team, was this supposed to be a comedy? if so...why wasn't there any in it? If this was supposed to be an action movie, then why the elaborate pointless drama? If this was supposed to be a rip off of any and all bankjob movies then why in Gods name didn't they just make a rip off? Oh, it was a crime/drama ey? Sure, of course it was...silly me.

Right from the start this turkey really hits bottom, then digs. And boy can it dig.

1/10 is generous voting and a general rating of 5.8 is plainly absurd to the point of being insulting.

If u liked this, really, spare no costs, have a brain surgery...