Honest Thief Review

Liam Neeson's "Honest Thief" is exactly the kind of thing that direct-to-video/streaming was invented for- a pandemic forcing theaters to close is just icing on the cake. Yet that's not what happened. Opening only in brick and mortar cinemas, this exceedingly familiar "ex-con on the run" tale is not the kind of thing that usually breaks box office records, and if  Christopher Nolan can't make people comfortable going back to the movies, then what is Liam Neeson doing on the silver screen?

But people love this guy- how else could he play essentially the same character so many times? Hell, during my screening, they even played a trailer for his next revenge pic, "The Marksman." He's portrayed the same recycled hero so many times I might as well copy and paste my reviews for "Cold Pursuit" and "The Commuter." If viewers don't mind, then readers shouldn't. 

This time around he plays Tom Carter, the "In and Out Burglar" who's robbed a dozen or so banks, and the world have no idea who he is. After meeting a girl, Annie (because of course he does), played by the wonderful Kate Walsh, he decides to turn himself in with all the money, in exchange for a reduced sentence. Add a few opportunistic corrupt FBI agents and you have "basic action movie plot, chapter 1."

Out of all the mundane comes an unexpected performance by Jai Courtney as Agent Niven's, one of the two double-crossing baddies. He hams it up with his wide-eyed grin and wired intensity, a guy you'd love to hate had he been given anything interesting to say or do. Here the script is so neutered, you just "kinda like to dislike him."

Gunfire's exchanged, cars are chased, and fists are thrown, and although director Mark Williams does stage everything cleanly and professionally, it all just looks tired. Unless of course you find two cars speeding down a straight road, then turning left a few times, rousing. And by the time we get to the final confrontation between Tom and Nivens, they shoot at each other for a moment or two, run out of bullets, and then it just ends. What happened to the climax?

That's all fine and dandy, and if you're open to buying that stale tale, you'll find a decently touching love story beneath all the bullets. Walsh and Neeson have remarkable chemistry, in spite of the fifteen year age difference, and by the end of the sub-100 minute runtime, you want to see them together. To expose whether or not that happens would not only be a disservice to the potential movie goer, but also to insinuate that the material offers any sort of surprises.

No, "Honest Thief" is not that caliber a picture. "The Fugitive" this very much is not. It lacks the stoic hilarity or fresh excitement of some of his earlier thrillers, but it remains relatively easy to watch. It's a slick piece of run-of-the-mill entertainment, exactly the kind of aged action hero chaos that he's been pumping out in the last decade, offering absolutely nothing new or particularly exciting. We all know his character's innocent, and that it's just a matter of time before he proves it. Leave your yawns in the theater lobby, along with your brain, just don't forget your face mask.