The action is great, the plot has good pacing but main strength is with the cast.

Rating: 8/10 (10 September 2016)

My desire to see this came from the cast, as I've followed their careers for quite some time, namely Affleck, Renner and Lively. I was not disappointed.
Now I'm not going to pretend that I'm an expert in the area of heist movies, but I thoroughly enjoyed this film. No comparisons to others, but as its own movie it does pretty well. I mean there were some moments where I wasn't satisfied, particularly with the ending, but overall it was a great movie.
The action is great, the plot has good pacing but main strength is with the cast.
Ben Affleck has proved yet again that he's a director, a great writer and an actor who's worth his salt. Many have reviewed Affleck's performance as 'wooden' and 'filled with nothing but frowning', but I think he did a wonderful job. His delivery was appropriate, his expressions were on point and I think that if you can play a criminal and a killer and still make the audience root for you in the end, then you've done a good job. And I inexplicably found myself rooting for MacCray by the end of the movie.
Blake Lively continues to impress me as she sheds her "Gossip Girl" fame and battles with being taken seriously as an actress of real standing. Her character "Krista" was terribly two-dimensional and just like most other stereotypical "skanky" characters that are portrayed in movies, but she did it well and I have no complaints, except for maybe the fact that her laugh is a little childlike and didn't really fit with her character, but that is very minor.
Jeremy Renner was, in a word, exquisite. He was breathtakingly haunting as he echoes his previous acclaimed role in "The Hurt Locker", with a powerful performance as Jem, a ruthless, no-nonsense criminal who solves his problems with bullets and no mercy. He stole the show for sure, creating a complex, provocative performance out of a character who lacks development. He really was spectacular.
Buy this movie on DVD or stream it wherever you can because you will have a good time watching it.