MOVIE REVIEW

MPA Rating: for sexuality, language and some nudity.

Movie studios don’t always have it right. Sometimes there have been stellar films that have unjustifiably had no advertisements or were directly released to DVD. Well, don’t let the cover of this movie fool you. While Morgan Freeman is a classic and Antonio Banderas still has charm, this movie is very poorly made and nowhere near the superb ranks of the likes such as “Ocean’s Eleven” or “The Italian Job.”

During a robbery on a subway, Gabriel Martin (Antonio Banderas) runs into renowned jewel thief Keith Ripley (Morgan Freeman). Impressed with what he sees, Ripley convinces Martin to join him in the biggest heist ever. They are to steal two Faberge Imperial Eggs from an almost impossibly impenetrable safe. During this, they have to avoid the NYPD and the Russian mafia who are hot on their trail.

Heist movies can be fun when it comes to plot twists and action. However, this movie is boring and far too simple. In the plot being too simple, this resulted in the movie becoming entirely too predictable and slow paced.

In addition, Antonio Banderas just didn’t fit well in his role. While he’s a talented actor, the script and directing certainly did not help. With some salsa music in the background, the camera would often zoom in on his face as he’d give his girl that sultry look. While he is still handsome, the attempt to emphasize this made the scenes very silly. Throughout the entire movie, Antonio Banderas kept reminding me of his most famous role as Puss in Boots. From his tone to his pitch, I kept smiling wondering if he’d pull out a sword. I am not entirely sure why, since whenever I watch “The Legend of Zorro” I am never reminded of the animated character.

Morgan Freeman is an actor in a class of his own. While experts have said that Will Smith is a highly bankable actor, I’d have to argue that Morgan Freeman definitely has some bankability of his own. However, I was totally surprised by his participation in this project. His acting in the film was very wooden as if he himself were bored.

A better reason to skip this movie entirely is its offensive content. There’s heavy cursing and a graphic sex scene with nudity. On a television, a nude woman was shown in very close-up shots. The female lead, also, wears very skimpy clothing, and at one time, her breasts almost fell out while she was dancing. All this offensive content did not fit the movie; it felt as if it was simply added to create an “R” rating. Without all of this, this movie could have easily been marketed as a PG movie, but again, moviemakers apparently felt the need to dirty up a potentially clean plot.

In some of the dialogue, Gabriel kept repeatedly asking Ripley why he didn’t just walk away from thievery. Ripley replied that he was “born to steal sh*t.” While it’s a definitely an eye-rolling comment, some people have used that line when explaining different sins, almost as if God made them commit sin and left them no option. This is completely opposite of the truth. Sin is born first out of evil desire from a person’s own heart. When a person willingly and knowingly gives into that evil desire, then a sin is committed. In James 1:13-15, he wrote:

“When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full-grown gives birth to death.”

I wholeheartedly recommend skipping this offensive bore of a movie. It is simply not worth the price of the rental and especially not worth the grievance it’d cause the Holy Spirit which lives inside all Christians.

Violence: Mild / Profanity: Heavy / Sex/Nudity: Extreme

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