99 min
6.5
2020
United Kingdom
Honest Thief is an action-thriller film directed by Mark Williams based on a screenplay by Williams and Steve Allrich. Starring Liam Neeson, Kate Walsh, Jai Courtney, Anthony Ramos, and others, the movie tells a story of a former bank robber who turns himself in to authorities but gets set up by them.
Honest Thief follows the master of bank robberies who quit the business a long time ago and was not going to return to his "professional" occupation. However, the path from a thief to an honest person is quite tricky. And in order to clear his name and save his beloved woman, he will have to challenge the corrupt cops and restore justice.
What the film lacks is character depth. Although Neeson's character is more or less worked out – he has, albeit a little dubious, background, his motivation is clear – then the rest of the characters look quite unfinished.
Agent Nivens is a caricature of a greedy, corrupt intelligence agent. His teammate agent Hall evokes mixed feelings: on the one hand, he always thinks about his family first. He does everything with the thought of his wife and children. The idea is beautiful, but in reality, his moral compass is floundering, and he is never entirely sure what he believes in. As a result, even his sacrifice made in the name of truth does not find any emotional response.
Tom's beloved, Annie, is a very lovable character. She's not as worried about the FBI agent trying to kill her as about the fact that she has been lied to for so long. And she doesn't really need a savior: she prefers to be in the thick of it with Tom.
Honest Thief is an example of its genre: it is spectacular, loud, full of chases and a bright hope that the good guys will win, even if the chances are small. But still, the movie is a collection of clichés, albeit a pretty good one. Experienced viewers, though, are likely to get bored. Honest Thief is worth watching only because this time, Liam Neeson might actually leave his career as an action star behind and let the young people save the world from villains.
SWITCH. wrote:
