Honest Thief
Liam Neeson stars as Tom Carter Aka The In And Out Bandit who, over nine years, carried out expertly executed heists in, mostly small, banks amassing a $9 million fortune while leading the FBI on a wild goose chase over that time. When Tom meets Mature Psychology Student/Storage Facility Manager Annie (Kate Walsh) she changes his life. After a year spent together, Tom decides that turning himself in - with a list of demands for a leaner sentence - and if he gives up the money, would be the noble thing to do, to be with the woman he loves.
But when two FBI agents, Nivens (Jai Courtney) and Hall (Anthony Ramos), see the money in a lockup in boxes - they feel the temptation and decide to frame Tom for a murder. Tom must then fight, chase & blow stuff up to clear his name.
Liam Neeson is fine in the movie. He handles himself well in the dramatic and fight sequences and has good chemistry with Kate Walsh. They are people in the third act of their lives and Tom is willing to confess to his crimes to be with her. The character of Annie is sadly not given much to do and only really serves as the motivation for the Neeson character to change his ways, but she is given a nice moment when tagging along with Tom, who, of course has to use his “particular set of explosive skills” that he gained in his military career, in the process of clearing his name.
Jai Courtney is a pretty weak antagonist and his turn from Federal Agent to money-motivated bad guy is a bit of a jolt with there really being no reason behind why he does it. His partner crime (literally) is played by Anthony Ramos who has the better-written part out of the two, as he is a family man wanting to give them a better life with this stolen money.
The supporting cast are good in their roles - Jeffrey Donovan from Burn Notice has come along way from when I first saw him in Blair Witch 2: Book Of Shadows - he's given some small funny nuggets of character moments centred around the custody of a dog during his impending divorce and Terminator 2's Robert Patrick has a small role as a fellow Bureau agent.
The plot hole laden script for Honest Thief is by Steve Allrich and Co-Writer/Director Mark Williams, who's a co-creator of the Netflix drama Ozark. Honest Thief is his second time helming a feature after his debut the "Kid With Cancer" drama A Family Man starring Gerard Butler.
Mark Williams’ direction is very televisual with not much creativity when it comes to telling his story visually. The film is supposed to be set in Boston but feels like Anytown USA and he is much better helming the acting moments in between the numerous car chases.
Another issue I had with Honest Thief was during a tension fueled set piece involving a character's house. The editing & music are working nicely in sync only for the sense of danger to be blown out like birthday candles by an extremely bad CGI effect. Also the ending of the film is pretty unsatisfying.
Honest Thief is a very generic, action genre B-movie and there's nothing wrong with that but it lacks the campy fun of Taken or the 70's, tough guy, throwback charm which The Grey had; it’s the type of film you'll enjoy when it's on but it won't leave a lasting impression like other movies Liam Neeson has made in the past.
Honest Thief is in US Theatres now and UK Cinema's from Friday 23rd of October
