Interesting story, decent to good acting, and a healthy fill of violence, plus a bit of humor, make this a pretty solid movie.
Statham does pretty much what he always does, and does it about as well as he ever does. Not as much an action movie as his recent films, but effectively the same character.
Others have said that, for a movie set in the 70's, it really doesn't feel like one. This, I think, is true: I don't expect sepia tones and a constant barrage of classic rock, but a more pronounced period piece feel would probably have elevated this movie. Or at least given it some style.
Which leads to my only serious gripe about the movie: No style. It left me cold. Had none of the fun and eccentricity of thematically similar, but stylistically different Guy Richie movies (Snatch and Lock, Stock), which Statham also figured prominently in. It may be unfair to compare this film to those, but the comparison was, well, unavoidable. Without that extra... something... this movie falls a bit short. It wasn't quite good enough to make it as a more serious heist movie, and the humor that was there seemed to indicate an uncertainty as to what kind of movie was being made: Were they trying to emulate Guy Richie, or Michael Mann? Too serious for the former, too light for the latter.
A good effort, and not a bad movie. Not amazing, but solid.
Statham does pretty much what he always does, and does it about as well as he ever does. Not as much an action movie as his recent films, but effectively the same character.
Others have said that, for a movie set in the 70's, it really doesn't feel like one. This, I think, is true: I don't expect sepia tones and a constant barrage of classic rock, but a more pronounced period piece feel would probably have elevated this movie. Or at least given it some style.
Which leads to my only serious gripe about the movie: No style. It left me cold. Had none of the fun and eccentricity of thematically similar, but stylistically different Guy Richie movies (Snatch and Lock, Stock), which Statham also figured prominently in. It may be unfair to compare this film to those, but the comparison was, well, unavoidable. Without that extra... something... this movie falls a bit short. It wasn't quite good enough to make it as a more serious heist movie, and the humor that was there seemed to indicate an uncertainty as to what kind of movie was being made: Were they trying to emulate Guy Richie, or Michael Mann? Too serious for the former, too light for the latter.
A good effort, and not a bad movie. Not amazing, but solid.