Thick as Thieves (2009)

Wow! Such a good movie.

Such a frustrating disappointment

Captivating movie !

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I was planning to give this film a 7 until the final scene, when the bubblegum-disco credits music kicked in. Deduct 1 star for the bad taste left in my mouth."Thick as Thieves" (alternatively titled "The Code") is your standard high-tech heist film, with serious tips of the hat to "Mission Impossible" and "Ocean's 11." A number of nice plot twists along the way, some of which you'll probably see coming and some not. The obligatory 40 seconds of moderately graphic sex. (Why did I get the odd notion that the producers were trying to bump this up to an R rating but couldn't quite manage it?) And, my main reason for the high rating, exceptional performances from Morgan Freeman and Antonio Banderas.Freeman is his usual stolid self and always worth seeing, though we've all seen his persona before. But Banderas is a particular joy to watch. At least one IMDb reviewer commented that he's getting a bit old to play the wisecracking buddy-movie younger guy, but I didn't view his character that way at all. I saw a cool-headed, competent crook, still young enough to have all his abilities but aware that the tide is ebbing quickly. (Banderas was 49 when this film was released, though his character can pass for considerably less.) And he doesn't take himself seriously; watch his facial expressions, some of which are hilarious, some self-mocking, and all expressive and beautifully in character.In fact, the entire film doesn't take itself seriously; I think that's why I had such fun watching what is, at bottom, a modest, not particularly original story. The ridiculously high-tech alarm systems and burglary gadgets, the juggling of identities and motives, the light, understated script (including some wonderful scenes featuring fully expendable bad guys): The mood of the whole is simply fun. Crack a beer and enjoy it.

Rarely anybody these days makes the heist movies anymore. Apparently, the are considered old-fashioned and the gurus of the film industry think they know what sells. And, now finally we have this lame cliché of just about every heist movie ever made. The twists that are barely twisted are utterly predictable, the glamorous atmosphere lacks any glamour whatsoever. What is Morgan Freemen doing in this B-movie? And Antonio Benderas again seems like fish out of water in American movie. He was never able to transfer his passionate flair overseas. And that just about sums it up. Completely uninspired, routine effort, that everybody involved did half-asleep. The same condition that I was in most of the movie.

There's been an increase of "light crime" movies lately. The Ocean trilogy, Duplicity and so on. These films usually mix a dose of humor and flirtation along with some kind of heist and some thrills. Thick as Thieves is the latest, and probably the worse in that sub genre of cinema because it tries to follow the formula without fully understanding it. It all starts with an uninspired screenplay from Ted Humphrey, who throws at us cardboard characters that we have seen a thousand times. The clever and mysterious old thief. His new recruit who doesn't trust him, a sexy and detached love interest and of course, the old cop who's been looking to lock up the master thief for a while but never gets to it. Yawn. Writer Humphrey and director Leder attempt to inject a light-hearted tone which clashes with the actual story almost scene after scene. Whenever a character is threatened, we never believe they are in any actual danger because of the light tone, so every attempt to thrill us falls flat. Worse, the humor and light-hearted material is never funny or clever. So it fails both to make us laugh or to create tension. Another aspect of the formula is usually the "voyeuristic" aspects of those flicks. Good looking people, exotic locations, eye candy of all kind (flesh, tech, etc...) and again, the movie attempts to push these different buttons in a cheap way. It never actually works. As all movies in this genre, a lot relies also on misdirection of the audience but none of the so-called twists here will really surprise and if some do, you will not be invested enough to care and go "wow". What you're left with is a tired plot where witty, (sometimes) good- looking characters go around pretending to be clever and being in danger that you never buy. A sort of Dysney heist flick for grown up. It pains me to see two fantastic actors such as Morgan Freeman and Radha Mitchell wasted in such trash.

We went to the movies without knowing which movie we want to see, we chose that one because of Morgan Freeman. Unfortunately the plot was not so good; it was a little too predictable. It seems like someone had some time between other movies and said: "why don't we make something in the meantime". The result was a movie that was not very interesting, we were disappointed. It seems like things were happening too fast, not giving a chance to connect to the plot or characters. The acting can also be better, especially Antonio Banderas. I think that "The Italian Job", or even better: "The Bank Job" for example, were much better movies. Behind us in the theater we did hear some people saying they enjoyed it.