Reel Review Roundup

Honest Thief (M)

Directed by: Mark Williams

Starring: Liam Neeson, Kate Walsh, Jai Courtney

Review by: Julian Wright

Skilled bank robber Tom (Liam Neeson) has been strategically hitting banks across the country, collecting millions of dollars and eluding the authorities for years.

When Tom meets psychology graduate student Annie (Kate Walsh) and falls in love instantly, he decides to come clean.

He wants to turn himself in to the FBI and give them the stolen cash in exchange for a lighter prison sentence so he can still maintain a relationship with Annie.

However, when Agent Nivens (Jai Courtney) and Agent Hall (Anthony Ramos) follow up, they decide to take the cash and brush Tom off as another fake confession – but things turn deadly

It is impressive that at this stage in his career and pushing 70 years old that Neeson is still in high demand for these action roles; and let’s face it, by this point he could do them in his sleep.

Honest Thief offers Neeson another likable family man caught up in deadly situation scenario, but this one takes a lower octane approach than the Taken series and far less bells and whistles.

It sets up an interesting story and character arc and spends more time on the romantic relationship than you might expect, but the relaxed pacing drains it of a sense of urgency at times.

It was the style over substance approach to Neeson’s silly actioners The Commuter, Unknown and Non-Stop and their tendencies to lean into their B-grade qualities that made them so thoroughly enjoyable, something that the Honest Thief might have benefited from.

Regardless, Neeson still has plenty of watchability and the thinly drawn characters are solidly performed by his supporting cast in this serviceable big screen offering.

This entry was posted on October 22, 2020 at 12:41 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.