Honest Thief: Neon NZ Film Review
In Honest Thief, a fairly competent story is given plenty of heart and soul before falling into old action genre tropes, and fizzling when it should really be ramping up.
An earnest Liam Neeson delivers another variation of his Taken routine, this time performing as Tom, a former marine cum IED disposer turned bank robber with a conscience.
Following a meet-cute with Kate Walsh’s Annie at a storage depot, Tom decides to turn his back on bank robbing life to settle down.
So deciding to turn himself in, Tom calls in the FBI, and tries to convince them he’s their man. Initially Reticent, two of the FBI’s most disgruntled (for reasons never fully expanded upon) decide to rip Tom off, steal the cash and make off with the perfect crime.
But when Tom is crossed, he takes the fight to the FBI, using a variation on his set of special skills to get revenge.
Honest Thief starts by placing characters into its story, developing them before they deciding to throw them in the shackles of a relatively plodding typical action film.
Neeson gives good hangdog face and his burden is obvious, even when the script fails him. But by the time Jai Courtney’s maniacal glee enters the frame. The film eschews any desire to further service its characters, preferring merely to service a rote plot that neither fizzles nor burns in its final third.
There is a story of how middle management flounder in life, how males lose their direction and how guilt catches us all up, but Honest Thief is less interested in that and more interested in ensuring a happy ending for all, the baddies are caught and love will find a way.
An abrupt end doesn’t help things and serviceable action scenes exist only because they have to and not because they ramp up tension or push you to the edge of your seat.
Honest Thief is watchable enough fare, but unless Neeson does something new and fairly soon, the twilight of his career will be notable only for a long list of average actioners - that’s the honest truth, but also would be a crying shame.
An earnest Liam Neeson delivers another variation of his Taken routine, this time performing as Tom, a former marine cum IED disposer turned bank robber with a conscience.
Following a meet-cute with Kate Walsh’s Annie at a storage depot, Tom decides to turn his back on bank robbing life to settle down.
So deciding to turn himself in, Tom calls in the FBI, and tries to convince them he’s their man. Initially Reticent, two of the FBI’s most disgruntled (for reasons never fully expanded upon) decide to rip Tom off, steal the cash and make off with the perfect crime.
But when Tom is crossed, he takes the fight to the FBI, using a variation on his set of special skills to get revenge.
Honest Thief starts by placing characters into its story, developing them before they deciding to throw them in the shackles of a relatively plodding typical action film.
Neeson gives good hangdog face and his burden is obvious, even when the script fails him. But by the time Jai Courtney’s maniacal glee enters the frame. The film eschews any desire to further service its characters, preferring merely to service a rote plot that neither fizzles nor burns in its final third.
There is a story of how middle management flounder in life, how males lose their direction and how guilt catches us all up, but Honest Thief is less interested in that and more interested in ensuring a happy ending for all, the baddies are caught and love will find a way.
An abrupt end doesn’t help things and serviceable action scenes exist only because they have to and not because they ramp up tension or push you to the edge of your seat.
Honest Thief is watchable enough fare, but unless Neeson does something new and fairly soon, the twilight of his career will be notable only for a long list of average actioners - that’s the honest truth, but also would be a crying shame.
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