Armored Review
Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 12.07.2009
Ever wanted to know how to rob an armored truck, or make a solid crime thriller? This isn't the movie for you.
Directed by: Nimrod Antal Written by: James V. Simpson
Starring: Columbus Short - Ty Hackett Matt Dillon - Mike Cochrane Jean Reno - Quinn Laurence Fishburne - Baines Amaury Nolasco - Palmer Milo Ventimiglia - Eckehart Fred Ward - Duncan Ashcroft Skeet Ulrich - Dobbs
Running Time: 88 minutes
Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense violence, some disturbing images and brief strong language.
Security guards have been a staple of cinema in 2009, it would seem. In the beginning of the year, Kevin James found himself at the center of an improbable hit as the lightweight comedy Paul Blart: Mall Cop opened to a surprising $31 million opening weekend and had grossed nearly $150 million by the time it was done. It seemed like the trend would continue as Seth Rogan opened his own mall cop-themed comedy, Observe & Report, in April. However, the more darkly-themed comedy did not strike with audiences or critics, and in the end it was a massive disappointment with less than $25 million in its coffers. Still, Hollywood was undaunted, and a different tactic has been taken on the security guard-themed films. That tactic goes from comedy to crime thriller with Armored. Directed by Nimrod Antal and starring Columbus Short, Matt Dillon, Laurence Fishburne and Fred Ward, the armored car heist film opens in an attempt to clean up before the holiday season starts up in full.
Armored stars Short as Ty Hackett, a newly-christened member of Eagle Shield security. Eagle Shield runs armored trucks to deliver bank deposits around the city, and alongside Eagle Shield veterans Baines (Fishburne), Palmer (Nolasco), Quinn (Reno), Dobbs (Ulrich) and Mike Cochrane (Dillon). Mike was a long-time friend of Ty's parents and since the death of said parents he's taken it upon him to look out for Ty and his teenage brother (Kinney). Unfortunately, the bills are piling up and while Ty was a war hero in Iraq, the security guard's pay isn't enough to keep the bank from threatening to take the house. When Mike offers Ty an opportunity on a one-in-a-lifetime chance--to heist a massive delivery of $42 million and blame it on a robbery--Ty reluctantly signs up. But when things go awry during the stowing of the money and innocent people get hurt, including police officer Pete Eckehart (Ventimiglia), Ty finds himself at odds with the others...and when $42 million dollars and a lifetime in jail is at stake, being at odds with these guys is far from the best place in the world to be.
First-time writer James V. Simpson came up with the script for Armored, and as a story it plays out passably, albeit with several flaws and plot holes. Few characters are given any development at all outside of the security guards-turned-thieves; their superior is given a brief back story as told during a night at the bar by the guys and that is about it. Even Ty's brother and Eckehart are given little depth despite their involvement in the storyline. This is perfectly fine within the confines of an action thriller; the problem is that this story is less an action thriller than it a more dramatic thriller with some action sequences involved. The action comes fairly far and few before the ending, and instead Ty is relegated to a spot locked inside one of the armored vans while those outside are relegated to pounding away incessantly on the doors to try and get inside. There are certainly other developments but they seem largely like filler, ways to both pad the running time out to ninety minutes and dwindle things down to the core group of villains and hero. They also require some startling errors in judgment and moments of stupidity from Cochrane's group of thieves, such as Fishburne's hot-tempered Baines getting gun crazy on more than one occasion and the group failing to notice Ty sneaking in and out of the truck. There's also the matter of the group's plan, which is so transparent as to cause anyone with half a brain to wonder why anyone would go along with them. The story is kept largely clean of clutter and the tension builds well enough, but certain character decisions do not make sense at all and the climax involves a sudden and dramatic level of idiocy from one of the characters. Meanwhile, the conclusion is handled far too succinctly and seems a serious let-down after everything that's been built up. As a story goes, this one seems to lack in the elements that are needed for a good, solid crime thriller.
It does not help at all that Nimrod Antal seems largely lost in how to handle this film. Antal earned rave reviews for his first film, 2003's Hungarian-language thriller Kontroll, and surprised many by making Vacancy into a far better film than it should have been. As such, it is reasonable to expect he would be able to wring some serious dramatic tension into this film. Unfortunately he largely fails as he tries to handle car chase scenes with complete incompetence. The scenes are lensed the irritating habit of so many quick cuts as to make the result incomprehensible. One such scene in particular, where Ty races out with one of the trucks and is chased by Cochrane, ends up coming back to where they began but you could hardly tell it by the actual chase itself. Only once we see those left behind dodging out of the way do we realize that they have made a complete 360 degree circle back to the start of the chase. Antal does manage to contribute to a sense of camaraderie amongst the guards and he gives everything a gritty feel which helps, but when it comes to the important, pivotal scenes he just seems unsure of what to do. It is an unfortunate let-down that the director wasn't able to do more with this and does not service the film at all.
The acting, by and large, follows the direction in being lost. Columbus Short makes an engaging enough hero in Ty at least, and Matt Dillon does decent work for most of the film as the lead villain. The rest of the characters seem to lack something in terms of credibility of depth, however. Laurence Fishburne may be having fun as Baines, but he overdoes it too much sometimes. While that type of performance can work and even add to a film when the overall feel is one of excess, this is a more restrained film and Fishburne seems to be at odds with everyone around him. Skeet Ulrich calls in his performance amidst a tweaker look ill-befitting what a security guard for a major company like this should be, and Jean Reno's role is as indistinguishable as many of his performances have been over the last few years. Amaury Nolasco, who earned a reputation as an actor from his work in Prison Break, swings and misses for the second time in a row in film roles. In Max Payne he was a one-note character; here he gets two notes but can't seem to stay consistent between them. He goes entirely over the top in his climactic scene and it completely fails. Milo Ventimiglia also fails to impress as the police officer caught in the whole mess. He works all right as an everyman sort of character but there isn't enough for his role to do other than bleed and grunt in pain.
One thing Antal does well is utilize the space, particularly the inside of the armored truck where Ty and Pete end up, safe but trapped. There is a claustrophobic feel inside the van and much like he did with Vacancy, Antal is able to utilize that space to some good effect. It is doubly unfortunate then that once outside of that space, he doesn't know what to do. It's not much of a surprise that when things permanently exit the locked inside of the bulletproof vehicle—by virtue of one of the most well-timed traps off all-time, no less—that things take a permanent nose dive from which it never recovers. The trucks may be bulletproof, but the movie is not.
The 411: A crime thriller without a lot of thrills, Armored did not need to be a brilliant film to entertain. All it needed was for director Nimrod Antal to create a solid experience and let his cast shine. Unfortunately the cast is uneven at best and Antal proves himself unable to handle what little action there is, making the entire film a glaring disappointment. The performances of Columbus Short and Matt Dillon as the security guards in chief opposition to each other are decent and the time inside the armored truck has an appropriately claustrophobic feel, but the script fails to live up to any sort of potential and the overall feel is too trashy for an A-list film, but too serious to be a good B-movie. In the end, like the armored trucks it features, Armored crashes and burns.
