"Flawless" is a very unusual heist film. While this is generally a wonderful genre with MANY great caper pictures (such as "Rififi", "Oceans Eleven", "Grand Slam" and "Bob le Flambeur"), it's also a genre that seems to have little in the way of twists to make newer heist films worth seeing. With "Flawless" they managed to come up with a dandy twist...making it yet another lovely heist film worth your time.
When the story begins, Laura (Demi Moore) is an elderly woman in the present day being interviewed by a reporter about her extraordinary career. It seems that back in the 1950s, Laura was a real groundbreaker...an executive in the diamond industry in London when other women only became secretaries. But the interview goes in a way the reporter didn't suspect when Laura admits that long, long ago she was involved in a huge diamond robbery...one for which she managed never to be caught. Now, with the statute of limitations behind her, she's about to tell her story.
It seems that in the 1950s, Laura is a very talented and capable executive with London Di, a huge diamond firm. But again and again and again, men are being advanced to upper management and she has come to realize she has hit the so-called 'glass ceiling' and because she was a woman, she'd never go any further. This is rough....but imagine how frustrated she becomes when the company janitor, Hobbs (Michael Caine), tells her that he read a letter in the CEO's office...and it said that they were going to fire her and blackball her in the industry!
Why would Hobbs tell Laura this? Well, after showing her a copy of the letter, he lets her in on his plan...to rob the vault of many millions of pounds worth of gems. And, with her being angry and hurt, she reluctantly agreed to help. What's next? See the film.
There were some very good performances in this movie. Joss Acklund is wonderful as the soulless CEO....a vicious and imposing figure that few other living actors would be able to play well. Moore is also very good....and gave a much better performance than usual because she was given excellent material. And, well, Michael Caine is Michael Caine! Fine acting all around in this one.
So is the film worth seeing? Absolutely. But I must warn you....folks with short attention spans, teenagers and children or folks who need explosions and boobs instead of plot might not enjoy this picture. But I thought it was terrific...and I do like how it managed to make you feel no sorry for the victims (after all, the whole blood diamond angle is alluded to in the film) and breathe new life into the genre. My only quibble, and it's a minor one, is that Moore's character seems a bit wishy-washy about the robbery late in the movie...something I would have preferred hadn't been in the story.
I cannot, however, for the life of me understand why the film only has a paltry 6.8 average currently on IMDB...it's much better than that.
