The Good Thief Movie Review:


Writer/director Neil Jordan's visual flare in The Good Thief gives the film life, but it unfortunately lacks enough energy to be more than a modest heist movie.

Set in the South of France and The French Rivera, the story centers around Bob Montagnet, who is played by Nick Nolte. Bob was once a brilliant thief, but now he is just an aging compulsive gambler and junkie. He is all around a good guy to everyone; even to his cop buddy Roger (Karyo). After taking a beating to rescue a seventeen-year-old teenager (Kukhianidze) from going down the wrong road of prostitution, Bob decides to clean himself up. No more gambling, no more boozes, and no more heroin. On the other hand, he turns back to another area of his life that he supposedly left behind, theft. After quickly getting his old crew together, Bob formulates a plan to have a fake heist at casino on the Rivera as a diversion for a real one that will take place a few blocks away. Instead of intentionally robbing the casino's safe, Bob and his crew intend on stealing a collection of valuable paintings that belong to the casino. Bob himself is a man of question of what is real and what is not through his experience in dealing with art and Pablo Picasso himself. After the table is set for the big heist, or heists, a few interesting characters arise and the typical movie-caper clichés take control.

Jordan's atmospheric impressionism is the highlight of the film, the captured South of France setting and the work by cinematographer Chris Menges is attractive. Jordan loosely based the film off Jean-Pierre Melville's 1955 French crime film Bob Le Flambeur. As a writer, Jordan's style is always full of some type of moral questioning and symbolism, and he even includes this with Bob in The Good Thief. Bob is a man that is trying to clean up by pitching away bad habits (gambling, heroin), but he still goes back to another bad habit (theft). There is also an interesting parallel of religious concerns that Jordan expresses in the film. Bob himself explains the story of "the good thief" that was crucified on a cross next to Christ. The thief was forgiven of his sins and given the entrance into heaven. In contrast to this parallel, Bob also calls the snitch of his crew "Judas" throughout the story.

Likeable quirky characters also arise in the story including the body builder Phillipa, who used to be Phillip and two thieving twins (played by Twin Falls Idaho's Polish twin brothers). The script falls into typical areas of the heist genre with the high-tech gadgets as well as the double-crossing or backstabbing characters. Jordan is a solid filmmaker who can capture different types moods and gets the best out of his actors. He has previously directed The Crying Game (1992) and Interview with the Vampire (1994). However, The Good Thief at times lacks a spark and overall rhythmic outcome. It is missing the wit and clever dialogue of a caper film like David Mamet's Heist (2001) and the overall coolness of Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's 11 (2001).

Nick Nolte is back in the saddle playing the likeable thief Bob. With that horse voice and cocky charisma, Nolte ventures into areas that we have seen before from him, but he still delivers the goods. He also shares some pleasant chemistry with The Core's Tcheky Karyo, who plays Roger, the cop that is on his tail. Young Nutsa Kukhianidze delivers a breakthrough performance as Anne, the mysterious teenager that Bob takes under his wing. Her presence and look are reminiscent of a young Helena Bonham Carter or XXX's Asia Argento. Ralph Fiennes, who worked with Jordan in The End of the Affair (1999), pops up unshaven and ridiculed as a sleazy art dealer named Tony Angel.

The Good Thief is at times a tiresome heist film, but the visuals and the acting give the film interest. Comparable to the heist genre, The Good Thief is modest and lacks some elements that seemed halted or lost.

Grade: C+

04/09/03

Joseph Tucker

Nick Nolte plays Bob Montagnet, a France-based thief on his last legs, pursuing hopefully his last great heist and trying to get his good luck back. In pursuit of Bob and his crew is crafty police detective, Roger (Tcheky Karyo) who wants nothing more than to watch Bob squirm and eventually slip up.

Bob's weakest link could be his rescuing of crack-addicted 17-year old Russian prostitute, Anne (newcomer Nutsa Kukhianidze). Anne will do or say almost anything for a smoke. Will Anne be Bob's pitfall before redemption? Can Bob give Roger the slip and get away with the biggest heist ever to hit Monte Carlo?

"The Good Thief" is surprisingly, a very effective and entertaining game of cat and mouse. The problem is that it takes way to long to get going. The first 35-40 minutes drag on and you never know exactly know where Neil Jordan is taking us. The whole sub-plot involving Anne gets old very quickly as the audience loses interest in her hopeless situation. What does she have to do with the grand heist? Is she just a pawn Bob is dangling in front of Roger?

What I really enjoyed about the "Good Thief" was the performances of both Karyo and Nolte. Karyo continues to be one of the most used character actors in Hollywood but has never gotten a lot of recognition. He has such range and brilliant screen charisma. Karyo is a gem in the making. You also forget how brilliant Nolte is until you see this picture. You have to learn to understand his moaning and deep dialogue but once you understand its like you are a code-breaker who just cracked the biggest code of your life. Nolte hasn't been this so out of character and so good in so long.

The film also feels a lot like a Roman Polanski film in a lot of ways. The rugged hero, waif teenage girl, exotic European locales and of course a crime or mystery are all elements of vintage Polanski. Or was I thinking Nabokov. Don’t get me wrong there is a lot of elements of other directors in this piece but Jordan does cobble it together very well.

I did like the portrayal of Anne by actress Nutsa Kukhianidze but I couldn’t get over her uncanny resemblance to actress Moira Kelly circa “The Cutting Edge”. Her performance is very raw and unforgiving. It is so very powerful it is no wonder the audience gives up on her as a lost cause.

“The Good Thief” is a gem waiting to be unlocked if you can get through the film’s first 35 minutes.

(4 of 5)

So Says the Soothsayer.

Dean Kish

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