Liam Neeson gets to put a unique spin on his action hero persona with Honest Thief—now out on DVD, Blu-Ray, and On Demand.
Neeson portrays Tom Dolan, the titular soul, as he is ready to potentially turn the page and enter a new chapter of his life. As he meets Kate Walsh’s Annie Wilkins, Dolan is seeking a storage facility. Lucky for him, Annie’s the manager! What he seeks to store, we don’t know at that point, but it’s green and Dolan has about nine million of ‘em!
The story immediately fast forwards a year and the man who was previously known as the “In-and-Out Bandit,” is ready to go legit, turn himself in, return the cash, pay his debt to society—all part of a larger picture plan that involves marrying the aspiring therapist.
Things were going to go so smoothly and then Jai Courtney’s crooked FBI agent John Nivens has to go and be all greedy and selfish, dragging his partner Ramon Hall (Anthony Ramos, Hamilton) with him. Now, the latter is a family man who we never bought going along with Nivens’ crookery, which tends to torpedo half the villainous stew. But, more on that later.
There is something about a man who is literally fighting for love, justice, truth, and the American Way—even if he stole it! Neeson’s command on Dolan has us more than engaged on this ride. He and Walsh have sparks in spades. It’s easy to see why someone who is so bloody gifted at repurposing large sums of money without an individual being injured or killed, would hang it all up to pursue an adrenaline rush of another kind.
The crux of Honest Thief narrative circles around Dolan and Nivens being on a collision course. Courtney plays bad well and has a blast with it in the process. Nivens just doesn’t care… about anything except dollar signs. That’s how it’s justified (in his mind) to do what he does and how he can involve Hall in the process, whether the fellow FBI agent wants to or not.
Neeson is firmly in his comfort zone. There’s plenty of entertaining action, that when coupled with the “wrongfully accused of murder” storyline, is always a great motivator with that fight back persona the Irish actor has culled since 2008’s Taken. It works yet again for the man whose trailer for The Marksman just premiered.
When he decides to come clean to Annie about his past life and reveals his desire to do the right thing—to turn himself in, return the money and work out a deal with the feds that will imprison him geographically near her, it speaks volumes about where Dolan’s head is at. When the plan goes sideways, we know he never meant to involve Annie in any of this and Neeson wears that regret like an anvil hat.
After saving the day and playing the action movie protagonist for 13 years now, a script has to say something unique to Neeson for him to tackle a role that he knows will be compared to all his others. That regret over Annie’s involvement in this violently greed-based grab had to be the emotive angle that hooked the actor to add this film to his resume.
Honest Thief was written and directed by Mark Williams (who produced The Accountant—which is criminally underappreciated) and as such, the filmmaker establishes himself as quite the storyteller. With his latest, the helmer weaves pulse-pounding action sequences with emotional anchors that intertwine over a tight 92 minutes. Williams also is the co-creator of the Emmy-nominated series Ozark on Netflix. Those are some impressive tales he’s told.
The taut nature is surprising, given the number of twists and turns that zig-zag us through that tagline that is just impeccable. Seriously, in the last 12 months, few cinematic descriptors have nailed it quite like, “Never steal a man’s second chance.”
The eclectic ensemble also features Robert Patrick (of Terminator 2: Judgment Day fame) and Jeffrey Donovan (Sicario). They play fellow FBI agents, and each contributes immensely with the screen time given—and it could be argued that both actors’ roles are invaluable to how this entire foray plays out.
When it comes to bonus content, there is not a single featurette. That’s OK. Every question raised during its hour-and-a-half was answered. Honest Thief is the rare film that can stand on its own never trying to be something it’s not. Who needs a master class in movie chemistry when all you have to do is watch it?
Film Grade: B