(spoiler free)
After the game changing ‘American Animals’ only released a few weeks ago we haven’t had to wait too long for the next entry into the heist genre. ‘The Theory of Everything’ director, James Marsh’s latest project ‘King of Thieves’ sees Michael Caine chasing that grey pound as he stars as the leader of the crew who robbed the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit in 2015.
No stranger to this genre Michael Caine seems like an obvious casting choice here but with the pretty poor heist comedy caper ‘Going In Style’ to his name, he had some work to do to regain his credibility in the genre. Unfortunately ‘King of Thieves’ doesn’t do this for him, well not to start with anyway. The beginning of the film is shaky to say the least. There’s nothing interesting about watching his character deliberate on whether or not to do the robbery that we all know he’s going to end up doing. Much like most of the characters it’s appropriately slow and lacking in energy, but this doesn’t make for very stimulating viewing. The heist itself is boring, seeming too easy and no real challenge. Of course this is based on factual events so it would have been taking quite some artistic license to have thrown in an elaborate laser dodging sequence or something else in that vein. However, the tame content of the heist wasn’t all that cinematic and the characters seem so ignorant of many obvious precautions to take it was somewhat frustrating to watch as well.
Thankfully after this lacklustre start the narrative does pick up in the aftermath of the heist, usually the section that makes or breaks a film in this genre. It becomes much darker and ditches most of the average attempts at comedy which came before it. This section to the film is much more engaging and somewhat redeems what the film initially offers its audience. The aged ensemble of actors assembled for the picture feature a whole host of British alumni including, Michael Gambon, Ray Winstone and Paul Whitehouse. However, it’s the often fluffy and whimsical Jim Broadbent who completely steals the show as terrifying hard man of the group Terry Perkins. His role here is so different to what we’re used to from the actor and showcases his versatility brilliantly. He gives the film the edge it desperately needs and adds a further level of chemistry amongst the characters that was required to give the film any sense of drama.
‘King of Thieves’ had all the potential to pull off the perfect heist movie but it lacks the pace, energy and style that it needs to standout amongst its genre competitors. Michael Caine and co. are all good, especially Broadbent but the weak content of the film, particularly at first, provides them with an uphill struggle that they only just overcome thanks to the more complex and entertaining second half. So not quite the cinematic gold mine it could have been but Broadbent and the second half prevent it from simply becoming a hustle with the audience as the unsuspecting marks!
Written by Hamish Calvert
Rating – 6/10
Question: What’s the worst heist movie you’ve seen?
(Leave your answers in the comments section below!)
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