Sommerleigh Pollonais – Senior Writer
Plot: Wanting to lead an honest life, a notorious bank robber turns himself in, only to be double-crossed by two ruthless FBI agents.
Review: Liam Neeson is an actor I would group together with Nicolas Cage. No, I’m not referring to their acting techniques. That would be like comparing an ice cream sundae to a silver back gorilla – the two have nothing in common. I’m talking about the unpredictable quality of their movies.
Neeson’s career as an action star your Dad would love, started with Taken and from there on, he’s been in a slew of action movies that vary widely in quality. They usually meander between great, good and an okay way to spend and hour thirty minutes, and for me Honest Thief falls squarely in the okay batch.
Here Neeson plays Tom, a brilliant bank robber with a really stupid nickname given to him by the press (The In and Out Robber). His life changes for the better when he meets the instantly likeable Annie, played by Kate Walsh (The Umbrella Academy) and after a year of being together, he decides to do the right thing, return the money and turn himself in. Both Robert Patrick (Terminator 2) and Jeffrey Donovan (Burn Notice) play the FBI agents he contacts to confess his deeds, but sadly they turn the case over to Jai Courtney (Suicide Squad) and if you’ve seen most of his work, you’ll know the chances he’s not the bad guy are pretty slim.
The movie isn’t bad, I honestly can’t think of a recent Liam Neeson vehicle that was, but it’s most definitely generic. The plot reveals are more obvious than a bad toupee, which takes away any real tension the film could’ve had. That said, the acting is solid (with such a talented cast I wouldn’t expect less) the action is well shot (although there isn’t much of it) and the pacing isn’t going to annoy you.
There’s most definitely an audience built in for these types of movies, and I’m sure they will enjoy it more than I did. For this cinephile, Honest Thief was just another mediocre action thriller that I’ll pack away in the closet of my mind palace, to be forgotten with all the others just like it.
Sommer’s Score: 5 out of 10
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Sommerleigh of the House Pollonais. First of Her Name. Sushi Lover, Queen of Horror Movies, Comic Books and Binge Watching Netflix. Mother of two beautiful black cats named Vader and Kylo. I think eating Popcorn at the movies should be mandatory, PS4 makes the best games ever and I’ll be talking about movies until the zombie apocalypse comes.
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