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Title: Flawless (2007)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Demi Moore | ... | Laura | |
| Michael Caine | ... | Hobbs | |
| Lambert Wilson | ... | Finch | |
| Nathaniel Parker | ... | Ollie | |
 |
Shaughan Seymour | ... | Eaton |
| Nicholas Jones | ... | Jameson | |
|
|
David Barrass | ... | Fenton |
| Joss Ackland | ... | MKA | |
| Silas Carson | ... | Reece | |
| Derren Nesbitt | ... | Sinclair | |
|
|
Rosalind March | ... | Penelope |
|
|
Kevan Willis | ... | Lewis |
| Stanley Townsend | ... | Henry | |
| Jonathan Aris | ... | Boyle | |
|
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Ben Righton | ... | Bryan |
London, 1960. Laura Quinn is the lone female executive at London Diamond Corporation. She is frustrated as her talents are rarely acknowledged and her less-experienced male co-workers are promoted ahead of her. She is shocked, but intrigued, when the mild-mannered night janitor, Mr. Hobbs, approaches her with a daring but simple plan to steal a handful of diamonds from the vault. Laura agrees to help, but she is soon in over her head. And it is not long before insurance investigator Mr. Finch has his eyes on her. Written by L. Hamre
The great robbery genre is one of many formulas and techniques that have been tested over endless arrays of such examples from the genre. In fact it seems reasonable to believe that not since the 1960's has a truly original or groundbreaking heist movie been made, all thanks to the successes of those features. From then on in it would seem that all that would follow would do so in the footsteps of those beforehand, learning from the mistakes and the fortunes of such efforts. While this can lead to a long barrage of groans and yawns from audiences who are tired of seeing the same old idea pulled off year after year, there still remains a certain joy and excitement to behold when watching a heist that is pulled off with flare. Flawless is that kind of heist movie; it never does anything out of the ordinary, nor does it add any twists to the standard form of the robbery feature structure, but it nevertheless succeeds in telling an engaging story all the same. Cemented in place from two absolutely compelling performances from Michael Caine and Demi Moore, director Michael Radford in no way crafts an innovation of the genre, but creates a solid example of why they are still getting made the way they were forty years ago. Predictable and formulated, Flawless isn't a genuine diamond by any means, but it's a fair imitation of one.
The story here revolves around two people, both in very different stages of their lives and even more so in their social status. Laura Quinn (Demi Moore) is a female executive of a company that buys and sells diamonds, a successful figure for the time but nevertheless trapped in her position because of her gender which during the story's timeframe of the early sixties, makes her an unlikely candidate for promotion. When sixty year old janitor of the building Mr. Hobbs (Michael Caine) overhears that Quinn is soon to be released because of a confidentiality leak regarding certain Russians, he takes it upon himself to proposition her to take what she can while she can. From here on in writer Edward Anderson opts to tell a standard, albeit very well constructed heist story that does well to stick to the genre's best features. Focusing strongly on character, the act of the heist itself whilst leaving part of the job a mystery to be solved during the movie's latter half, Anderson knows that the best robbery stories often succeed through those three central elements. To be sure there are major missteps taken with his script, most of which rather irksomely arise during the movie's final act, but for the majority of what is present, he and Radford do very well in convincing the audience that this formulaic throwback is actually worth watching.
Part of what makes it so compelling to watch however lies mostly outside of the talents of the writer and director, residing within the talents of lead stars Demi Moore and Michael Caine. Moore, who I've always felt was an underused and underexposed actress, nails her character perfectly here, resulting in a powerful female figure that commands the screen every bit as much as she caresses it. Intelligent, dignified and dashed with enough hints of humiliation, Moore's character serves as a the feature's central figure and the actress does extremely well in filling the position with enough conviction and personality to keep things moving along. Caine, who has always been more suited to the supporting role in his features of late, comes across exactly as you would expect him to. His timid janitor character rarely breaks the actor out of his comfort zone, but Michael always seems to bring a real sense of warmth and humanity to his roles that in turn help to ground whatever feature he stars in. As a duo both Caine and Moore make a formidable pair and the interplay between both is always inviting to watch. Their characters too share a natural bonding, with both being distinctly different and yet sharing so many characteristics that go beyond their social façades.
So while there is nothing remotely new or imaginative about Flawless in its design, execution or display, one can certainly take the experience as is and simply enjoy it as such. In contrast with this year's earlier efforts (The Bank Job springs to mind), Radford's treatment to the now overdone genre feels somewhat trained, informed and welcome in amidst the rubble that comes before it. Of course, there's no cause for anyone to run to their cinema to see this; anyone who has seen a fair heist movie has in one way or another already seen this. With elements that are refined and poignant enough to keep the audience intrigued, Flawless is definitely a compelling piece of work; but lumbered with an all too familiar story the movie fails to resonate as much it could. Yet it goes without saying that for those who like these kinds of movies, Flawless should serve its purpose well enough until someone comes and reinvents the wheel once more.