He’s saying, with every line, “I don’t want to raise my voice. He’s got his towering full-boil fury, but behind it there’s that lingering controlled hint of Irish politeness. What defines it is that Neeson delivers each low-down threat and underworld proposition as if it were Shakespeare. Directed by Mark Williams, the co-creator of the Emmy-darling Netflix drama “Ozark,” it’s a serviceably energized and routine action crime movie, with a few slammin’ fistfights and gun battles, and it proves once again that Liam Neeson is an actor who will take a paycheck gig without treating it like one.Įver since “Taken,” 12 years ago, gave a steroid shot to his career (and damned if Neeson, at 68, doesn’t still move with the casual alacrity of a man 30 years his junior), he has made the pulp thrillers he stars in into a genre all their own. I can’t say (though I almost wish I could) that the rest of “ Honest Thief” is that kind of howler. But much of what constitutes the meat of the script from Williams and Steve Allrich is generic car chases, fistfights and shootouts, punctuated by an insistent, percussion-heavy score.It’s like a moment out of “The Naked Gun.” Donovan provides some substance as the wisecracking, level-headed agent trying to get to the bottom of the case, and there’s an amusing running bit involving the adorably scruffy dog he inherited from his ex-wife in their divorce. There’s nothing to Courtney’s character beyond greed. But everything happens so quickly, and with so little build-up of suspense, that the many shady dealings and double-crosses throughout “Honest Thief” don’t register as powerfully as they should. Such seemingly complicated characters traveling in such murky circles should be compelling. ![]() And what should be a straightforward transaction turns violent when Courtney’s Agent Nivens gets the bright idea that he and Ramos’ Agent Hall should take the money for themselves instead. ![]() So they humor him by sending their underlings, a scenery-chewing Jai Courtney and an underused Anthony Ramos, to pay him a visit at the hotel where he’s waiting for them. They’ve heard way too many false confessions over the years. Trouble is, the old-school agents he dials up ( Jeffrey Donovan and Robert Patrick) don’t believe him. As patient as he was planning and executing all his crimes, he’s in a hurry to get them behind him. But Tom is an honest thief, and he’s hoping that by cooperating, he’ll get a reduced sentence. Sure, he could have just dropped it off anonymously and started over. So he tries to turn himself in and turn over all that money to the FBI. A year later, they’re in love, and he’s so taken by her (pun intended) that he wants to go straight and forge a new life together. ![]() But when he steps into a Boston storage center to stash all that loot, he immediately connects with the pretty, quick-witted woman behind the counter: Kate Walsh’s Annie, who works there to help pay for grad school. The premise alone is intriguing from director and co-writer Mark Williams, co-creator of the series “Ozark.” Neeson stars as Tom Carter, a legendary bank robber known as the “In and Out Bandit.” (It’s a moniker he loathes, since it makes him sound haphazard, and he prides himself on his precision.) Tom has stolen $9 million from 12 banks across seven states over several years.
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