leonblackwood
Review:
The director of this film must have watched Heat too many times because the concept is EXACTLY the same, including the style of the epic shoot-out at the end. In this case, Gerard Butler plays the cop, "Big Nick" O'Brien, who heads his unit and goes to the extreme to get the job done. At the beginning of the film, his wife Holly (Meadow Williams), leaves him because she is fed up with his lying and womanising ways, so she takes there 2 young girls with her, even though Nick is begging her not to stay. Meanwhile, Ray Merrimen (Pablo Schreiber) heads a team of robbers, who are in the process of a violent armed attack and hijack an armoured truck. Police officers arrive at the scene and engage in a shootout with the robbers, which kills one of Ray's team. They manage to escape from the cops with the empty armoured truck but Ray is upset with a couple of the crew members because the robbery didn't go to plan. As most of Ray's crew are ex-military, they know how to handle heavy artillery, which is why they managed to escape from the cops. Anyway, it doesn't take long for Nick to work out who done the robbery because he has been monitoring Merrimen and his crew for some time. He then uses brutal tactics to kidnap the driver, Donnie Wilson (O'Shea Jackson Jr.), who works at a bar nearby. Whilst interrogating him in a hotel room, with the rest of his unit, Donnie reveals that Merrimen is planning to rob the Federal Reserve on Friday of that week by removing about $30million in old bills which are scheduled to be shredded after their serial numbers are deleted from computer records. Near the day of the heist, Ray and his crew invade a commercial bank and take hostages. With Nick knowing about there plan to rob the Federal Reserve, he struggles to work out exactly what they are doing but he's keeping a close eye on them, from outside the bank. Merrimen demands money and a helicopter from the police, which is due to be delivered in an hour's time but Merrimen's real plan is to use the tunnel underneath the bank, to get to the Federal Reserve. The thieves needed commercial bank money so they could make a cash drop-off at the Federal Reserve, which is the only way that they could get inside. With everything going to plan, Nick realises that everything has gone a bit quiet at the commercial bank, so he goes inside and he can see that they have used a tunnel to get to the Federal Reserve. He then alerts his team, and they start to make there way to the Federal Reserve, hoping to catch Merrimen in the act. Nick's team catch up with Donnie, who has managed to leave the Federal Reserve, masked as a Chinese delivery man, and they beat him up in the car, whilst interrogating him about Merrimen's whereabouts. After Merrimen and his crew, have sorted out the cash, changed their clothes and swapped cars, they start to make their getaway with the money but they hit a heavy traffic jam, which Nick and his team are stuck in as well. Nick decides to take the opportunity to take out the bank robbers but Merrimen sights him in his mirror, and he begins to take fire. This is when the Heat shoot-out comes into play! I won't spoil the outcome but if you have watched Heat, you will know what's about to happen. The final showdown was pretty realistic, in terms of sound and action but I still think that Heat has the best shoot-out of all time. Anyway, the acting wasn't bad from the cast, especially Butler but it wasn't anything amazing. There is a sense of intensity throughout the movie, which made the film watchable but there isn't much of a suspense element because the whole plan is revealed way too early, in my opinion. Another moment that let the movie down, was the fact that Nick didn't alert the Federal Reserve about the heist, which would have made total sense. Also, the Usual Suspects moment at the end was a bit weak, and I personally wasn't that bothered about Donnie getting away with the whole thing. I've heard that there is going to be a sequel, which will be the revenge from Nick on Donnie, so it will be good to see how the story truly ends, Anyway, it's worth a watch if you're into your dramatic action movies but it could have done with some top actors. Watchable!Round-Up:
This movie was written and directed by Christian Gudegast, who also wrote London Has Fallen, which also starred Gerard Butler, A Man Apart and Beyond The City Lights. The sequel to this movie is in production, and his upcoming projects include Hawaii Five-0, Mexicali, Black Flag and an untitled project about a Serbian Jewel Thief. For his directional debut, he did a good job, in terms of getting a decent cast and earning a hefty profit at the box office but it was way to close to Heat for me. The only way that the sequel will work, is if Gerard Butler returns because his character was the main reason why this movie worked. I also liked the intense Merrimen character, who I really can't see returning, so they need to come up with a decent baddie to go toe-to-toe with Butler. At the end of the day, it is a straightforward cops and robbers concept but now they have included an intelligent element, in terms of Donnie's character, the sequel sounds promising.Budget: $30million
Worldwide Gross: $80.5millionGenre: Action, Crime, Drama
Cast: Gerard Butler, Pablo Schreiber, O'Shea Jackson Jr., 50 Cent, Meadow Williams, Maurice Compte, Brian Van Holt, Evan Jones, Mo McRae, Kaiwi Lyman, Eric Braeden and Dawn Olivieri. 6/10
