It's a curious and odd thing to see a movie about art and and a heist where the art trumps the heist. But here we have The Maiden Heist, about three semi-bumbling thieves who work as security guards and want to save their favorite pieces of art (two paintings and a sculpture) before they're shipped off to a Copenhagen museum, and it is just that.
I wish this could have been a movie to really be excited about, for it to be one of those hidden gems that one finds went straight to DVD unjustly and that it should be discovered. That wish is moot as the film is what it is: a straight to DVD movie, deservedly, on the basis of its weak characterizations and direction. It's not that anything is particularly awful or really contrived in the film, it's just that nothing is very interesting either.
The cast (Freeman, Macy, Walken, Harden) should be the big reason to rent the film- matter of fact, over paintings and heists, the reason I did- but they're only given so much to do with their characters put into lackluster comic situations, such as the preparation for the heist (how to climb down a roof-top by Christopher Walken should also be a highlight, but alas is not). What is interesting though is seeing scenes where the characters confront their morbid obsession (or lack thereof) for their works of art, like when Walken flashes to fighting off a horde of thieves (ironically enough) in the opening sequence for the painting, or when Freeman, disappointed, shows that he can't really paint Walken's painting as a fake, only his own favorite. And the heist itself, while not bad, is a far cry from ones to aspire to see.
It's a flawed work that is perhaps just about right for a nothing-to-do weekend movie when on TV, but coming from such immense talents as the three males and one female stars it's a downer. Or rather, a work that doesn't have as much 'there-there' as it should.
I wish this could have been a movie to really be excited about, for it to be one of those hidden gems that one finds went straight to DVD unjustly and that it should be discovered. That wish is moot as the film is what it is: a straight to DVD movie, deservedly, on the basis of its weak characterizations and direction. It's not that anything is particularly awful or really contrived in the film, it's just that nothing is very interesting either.
The cast (Freeman, Macy, Walken, Harden) should be the big reason to rent the film- matter of fact, over paintings and heists, the reason I did- but they're only given so much to do with their characters put into lackluster comic situations, such as the preparation for the heist (how to climb down a roof-top by Christopher Walken should also be a highlight, but alas is not). What is interesting though is seeing scenes where the characters confront their morbid obsession (or lack thereof) for their works of art, like when Walken flashes to fighting off a horde of thieves (ironically enough) in the opening sequence for the painting, or when Freeman, disappointed, shows that he can't really paint Walken's painting as a fake, only his own favorite. And the heist itself, while not bad, is a far cry from ones to aspire to see.
It's a flawed work that is perhaps just about right for a nothing-to-do weekend movie when on TV, but coming from such immense talents as the three males and one female stars it's a downer. Or rather, a work that doesn't have as much 'there-there' as it should.