Honest Thief (2020)

Streaming Services: In Theaters
Movie Name/Year: Honest Thief (2020)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
Length: 99 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Production/Distribution: Argonaut Entertainment Partners, Blitz, Briarcliff Entertainment, Cutting Edge Group, Dreadnought Films, Dutch FilmWorks (DFW), E Stars Films, Eagle Films, Film & TV House, Forum Film, GEM Entertainment, Honest Thief Productions, Ingenious Media, J Cubed Film Finance, Key2media, Kinepolis Film Distribution (KFD), Kinomania, Leonine Distribution, Media Film, Metropolitan Filmexport, Monolith Films, Noori, Open Road Films, Pioneer Films, Pris Audiovisuais, PT Amero Mitra Film, Rialto Distribution, Samuel Marshall Productions, Shaw Organisation, Signature Entertainment, Solution Entertainment Group, Sony Danmark, Sprockefeller Pictures, Tanweer Alliances, Tanweer Group, Times Media Films, Top Film, Vie Vision Pictures, VVS Films, Zero Gravity Management
Director: Mark Williams
Writer: Steve Allrich, Mark Williams
Actors: Liam Neeson, Kate Walsh, Jai Courtney, Jeffrey Donovan, Anthony Ramos, Robert Patrick, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Tazzie
 
Blurb from IMDb: Wanting to lead an honest life, a notorious bank robber turns himself in, only to be double-crossed by two ruthless FBI agents.
 

Selina’s Point of View:
I got the chance to hit theaters again and decided to go with Honest Thief. There’s not a huge selection these days (for the obvious good reason), and I wasn’t feeling horror after an entire month of it. So, action.
 
You know what you’re going to get when you hit a Liam Neeson (The Commuter, Cold Pursuit, Silence) flick. You’re going to get a story about a man who has a very particular set of skills. Skills that make him a nightmare for the antagonist. I could go on, but let’s face it, you know what I’m doing here.
 
He’s got a bit of a typecast. Nothing wrong with specializing in something one does well, though.
 
That’s the thing. He’s played pretty much the same character in many of his films since Taken (2009). The only thing that tends to be in question is how high the body count is. That’s where we get a slight deviation from the norm here.
 
Neeson plays the good guy and he stays a good guy. There’s no real arguing if the sacrifices he made were worth it. When he does have to do something lethal, there’s no question.
 

That makes this slightly different than typical Neeson fare. His action sequences are so infrequent, that when they do occur it means more for the film.
 
I also really liked a lot of the other characters. Kate Walsh’s (The Umbrella Academy, 3022, Almost Love) character is kind of bad ass, in her own way. Instead of playing the meek woman stuck in a bad situation, she rises to the occasion and makes a difference. Anthony Ramos (A Star is Born, She’s Gotta Have It, Hamilton) played a phenomenal conflicted cop, while Jai Courtney (Stateless, Semper Fi, Suicide Squad) used his punchable face to be a thrillingly despicable antagonist. I really can’t fault any of the actors.
 
I think the big thing that caught me off guard was that it’s not the rushed-pacing, constant action, kind of film that I would have expected from the trailer. It’s got more heart. In fact, there’s a decent thread of romance going throughout it – and there’s enough chemistry between Neeson and Walsh to support it.
 
All-in-all, I’d call it a successful film. It had a bit of a recipe quality to it, but the premise was on the original side and I feel like I saw something new.
 

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 44%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 88%
Metascore – 46/100
Metacritic User Score – 6.7/10
IMDB Score – 6.1/10
 
Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 3.5/5

P.S. For Americans stressing over the election: Breathe. This will be over soon.
 
Movie Trailer: