The Nevada Sagebrush

With its by-the-book plotline and exciting action sequences, “Armored” is a solid addition to the heist genre, containing a perfect amount of character immersion and danger. The film isn’t great because the script is clever or because it breaks from normal Hollywood conventions (which it doesn’t) but because of the cast. Columbus Short (“Cadillac Records”) plays Ty Hackett, a new member of the armored guard unit whose house is in danger of being foreclosed.

Enter the heist: Led by his fellow guards, the group forms a plan to steal an armored car and the money inside of it, but not everything goes according to plan and Hackett has a change of heart, threatening to blow the whole operation.

It’s here that the film loses a little bit of steam from its promising beginning. The film resorts to an all too predictable ending, wasting an opportunity to push the envelope. All the same, the second half of the film is entertaining and it does offer a few fun twists and turns to keep the audience interested in what’s going on.

Matt Dillon (“Crash”) gives a strong performance as Mike Cochrone and Laurence Fishburne (the “Matrix” trilogy), who plays the veteran guard Baines, gives the film credibility and authenticity. Add in a pitch perfect performance from Jean Reno (“The Da Vinci Code”) as Quinn and the top-notch cast raises what should be an average film to a great film.

The script, written by James Simpson, is surprisingly solid, providing a good mix of humor, suspense and a lot of fun, thrilling moments.

The first half hour or so of the movie sets up the characters; their relationships with one another feel natural and really help to amp up the intensity later in the movie. Once the actual heist goes down and Hackett tries to stop it, an edge-of-your-seat thrilling experience follows. The film becomes a tricky and suspenseful game of last man standing as the crew tries to work out its differences before getting caught.

Despite the temptation to have the film turn into one big shootout, the film, surprisingly, is driven largely by character interaction instead of things blowing up.

The only thing making this film less than excellent is its predictability. While the film offers a few surprises, audiences will be able to see almost all of the twists coming before they happen.

That coupled with the fact that the company that owns the armored trucks seem to have very few security measures to keep track of them it really makes it a stretch at first to accept the premise. However, once the action picks up, it’s easy to forget and audiences will be in for a fun ride.

While it’s true this film won’t win Best Picture this year, “Armored” is definitely worth seeing. It has been a while since a decent heist movie was released and “Armored” is certainly a solid entry to the genre with great acting, a fun and action-filled plot, lots of drama and a heavy sense of predictability.

Lukas Eggen can be reached at leggen@nevadasagebrush.com.

Related Posts:

• No Related Posts