What was the point?

Rating: 5/10 (15 April 2006)

I didn't go to see this film with any expectations. I got to one of the free preview screenings, no idea what the film was about. On the whole I found the film quite enjoyable. It was very well acted.
The only probably I found was that the plot does not stand up to scrutiny. If you allow yourself to be swept away by the slick production and big name actors then you almost miss that the plot is convoluted and doesn't actually make sense in places and is wholly unbelievable in others.
As the film progressed I found myself not liking or caring about any of the characters. Denzel's character seemed like an idiot to start off with. I'm not sure that the character wasn't an idiot. Heck I didn't remember any of the character's names five seconds after I stepped out of the cinema.
The film did appear to pay homage to other films but it could not decide what it wanted to be - crime thriller, political thriller, comedy, action adventure, 1940's detective story. Its all well and good to be genre breaking if you actually are doing something original. This wasn't particularly. It's just the same old thing we have seen hundreds of times before. The only thing that makes this stand out above those is the director and big name cast.
Moving on to the plot - it really became confusing when I started to think about it. Firstly - How did Clive Owen's character know that Plummer's character dealt with the Nazi's and kept evidence of this in an unmarked safety deposit box? Why didn't the police find them when the hostages where released? I don't see how they couldn't have found him, they would have gone over that place with a fine tooth comb.
How did he manage to walk out from the basement of the bank with no one stopping him? Surely there would have been security and the video cameras would have been working by this point.
Why didn't Plummer's character empty his safety deposit box after the robbery? The more I think about it the more annoyed I get that this film made it to the big screen but is so riddled with plot hole. If this was a boat it would have sunk by now because of all the holes.
The film looks good and has very good performances but do not attempt to delve below it's glossy exterior. If you have two hours ten minutes to waste by all means go and see it but do not whatever you do start thinking about the plot.