Okay, but had the potential to be brilliant

Rating: 6/10 (26 December 2019)

A gang holds up a bank, takes hostages and is trapped inside the bank by police. A police hostage negotiator arrives and takes charge but the gang don't seem to be following the usual playbook. Even more mysteriously, the chairman of the bank has hired his own negotiator.
Intriguing and riveting...initially. The movie was set up to be a great heist drama, with a large dose of mystery thrown in. I was looking forward to see the course of events unfold and the puzzle be solved (or, even better, figure it out myself).
Unfortunately, the level of intrigue and uncertainty reduces almost immediately as we have flash-forwards that give away elements of the outcome of the bank siege. From a point you can see how the siege is going to pan out.
The bank chairman / private negotiator aspect, something which I initially thought was unnecessary and just detracted from the main story, becomes more important and adds intrigue, but it also serves to muddy the plot somewhat. More disappointingly, this sub-plot becomes the main plot and results in a unsatisfactory, smug, moralising conclusion.
Overall, interesting enough but also quite disappointing as it could have been so much better.