Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by tunenut (A) on March 09, 2008 at 12:21:10

I know there is a review below, but this is independent and unrelated, so I did not want to post it as a reply.

Before "action" in the movies connoted explosions and CGI animated effects, there were action movies which were actually driven by dynamic plots. This is an action movie in that old sense.

A group of amiable, small time criminals ("villains") in London are tipped off to a big time crime opportunity. They know they are a little out of their league in attempting this robbery, but they have no idea just how far out of their league they are. Like the prototypical film noir hero, these people are trapped in a web by a femme fatale, and what a complex web it turns out to be.

Soon, they are being pursued by good cops, crooked cops, the MI-5 representing the British Royal Family, and a smut king representing a black power activist. There are kinky politicians taking a personal interest in their whereabouts.

This whole cast of eccentric characters is expertly juggled in a lean plot that relentlessly moves forward and allows the villains hardly a second to catch their breath before another bombshell from another direction is lobbed their way.

I expected maybe the classic heist procedural, like Rififi. But while there is some of this, this movie is about a lot more than just the heist. The heist itself comes surprisingly quickly. They are planning it, then they are doing it.

All in all, superbly entertaining, full of engaging performances, and really ingenious in its juggling of the many threads of this wild tapestry.