Dec 10, 2018
If I were to think of what type of movie I would feature three Academy Award winners like Morgan Freeman, Alan Arkin and Michael Caine in, I don't necessarily think it would be this one. The sad thing is that, after you reach a certain age, as an actor, it's hard to find meaningful roles. And that's not to say that this isn't a meaningful movie for people who actually did enjoy it, but what I mean is that for three actors who have had as illustrious careers as they have had, this isn't really gonna be remembered as one of their most memorable or enduring roles. Alan Arkin's gonna be remembered for Little Miss Sunshine, Morgan Freeman for The Shawshank Redemption and Michael Caine for The Italian Job, his appearance in Christopher Nolan's movies and many others (same thing for Alan and Morgan). And that's not to suggest that this movie was ever meant to encroach on their legendary careers. With that said, however, I found that there was really nothing wrong with this movie in the slightest. It's a perfectly agreeable and inoffensively pleasant little movie. Perhaps that sounds condescending towards this, but I really did have no problem with this movie. Part of me just wishes that these incredibly talented actors were used in something that was a little bit better than this movie ended up being. Given that this is a remake of what is, supposed to be (since I haven't seen it), a good movie, then it's obvious that this type of movie should theoretically work if you actually put in the effort to craft a strong script with good characters. This movie has neither of those things. It has likable characters and that's not the same thing as them being, actually, good characters. Like, for example, Tree in Happy Death Day was a great character. That's not to say that Jessica Rothe, who was absolutely fucking great in that movie, is on the same level as any of those three, but it's just to say that she stood out more in her movie than Morgan, Michael or Alan did in this one and that is because of the fact that Jessica was working with a far stronger script. And, realistically speaking, I feel that this may have just been a paycheck movie for the three. I'm certain that they enjoyed working with each other, and you can tell by their chemistry, but it's just that the movie lacks the sparks necessary in order to push this to the next level. I think it plays it safe far too often for it to add up to anything all that substantial. And there's the inherent problem that I've always had with heist movies and that is that the majority of the film is spent planning the damn thing and, honestly, that's never been interesting to me. Or, in this case, at least, they spend a good chunk of time of it. In this case, they set up the guys losing their pensions first before they plan the heist itself. To me, to make the planning of the heist itself work, you need great characters at the core of it all. Because, once again, the planning itself just isn't interesting. What holds it all together is the interactions between the characters and, if they're great characters, then you don't even notice that the planning is incredibly dull and boring. Either that or the heist itself needs to be among the best you have ever seen for it to make sitting through all that planning worth it. This movie has absolutely none of those things. The characters aren't great, the planning is boring and the heist is meh. And I kinda get that these men are all in their 80s, so it can't be a tense heist like at the beginning of The Dark Knight. And the thing is that it is a worthy story, a little bit too late, but it is worthy. The banks fucked over the country in late 2008 and the people who ended up paying for the banks' numerous mistakes was the hard-working, blue collar citizens of the U.S. The banks preyed on those who needed the most protection and, sadly, they fucking got away with it. Fuck the banks, amirite? The point is that the story should feel relevant and timely, to this day, but it just misses the mark completely. If I come across as if I'm being negative, then I do apologize. Like I said, I had absolutely no problem with this movie. This isn't the second Madea horror movie (and it is the very definition of the horror movie in that I wouldn't want my worst enemy to watch it). It's decent, like I said, it's agreeable and the definition of a crowd-pleaser. But it's just not good. It really isn't. The fact that the movie provides a pleasant experience that you don't hate and is undemanding doesn't mean the movie should get a pass for its obviously empty script that relies entirely on its leads. But, and I mentioned this the other day, it's a vicious cycle. A weak script means you have to rely on your lead actors to carry the load, but they can only carry the load so far BECAUSE of the weak script. We're going in circles here. I give credit where credit is due, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Alan Arkin are all very good, but this movie, much like the banks in the movie, does not do right by them. I wouldn't recommend this, but there's nothing wrong with this. If I got through this just fine, so will most of you, even if the movie doesn't offer much in the way that is good.
Verified