A well-crafted, complex heist movie

Rating: 6/10 (30 October 2007)

One piece of advice has to dominate any review of this complex bank heist movie: Don't take your eyes off the screen for one second. If you do you're liable to miss something that will then leave you confused for the rest of the film. In fact, after you've seen it once you will probably want to watch it through again to check up on a couple of points. It is that kind of movie.
If that puts you off seeing it, it isn't meant to. This is a good film, well-crafted and nicely directed, with some genuinely surprising twists and a decent set of performances from reliable stars like Clive Owen, Willem Defoe and Jodie Foster. It falls short of being excellent though, perhaps because the pace is allowed to sag at times. It is maybe a little longer than it needs to be. And - hard as they try - none of the actors manages to create any great sympathy for their characters. Some viewers might like that, in that it allows you to concentrate on the events of the plot. Others may feel it lacks emotional depth.
But overall it's a decent film, certainly worth seeing. It's one you have to concentrate on though.