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Ghost Canyon

'Honest Thief' [Blu-ray]
(Liam Neeson, Kate Walsh, Robert Patrick, Anthony Ramos, Jeffrey Donovan, et al / Blu-ray + DVD + Digital / PG-13 / 2020 / Universal Pictures Home Entertainment)

Overview: Meticulous thief Tom Carter (Liam Neeson) has stolen $9 million from small-town banks while keeping his identity a secret.

But after he falls in love with the bubbly Annie (Kate Walsh), Tom decides to come clean about his criminal past, only to be double-crossed by two ruthless FBI agents.

Packed with action, Honest Thief is a tale of redemption and one man's mission to make things right for the sake of love.

Blu-ray Verdict: OK, well, I think we all know at this point that Liam Neeson has had a rather rocky PR road of late! But, and unlike Kevin Spacey, he is clearly not being put on the naughty step by Hollywood, since he has some five other features (at the time of writing) in the works and/or lined up for release!

His latest release, 'Honest Thief has Mark Williams directing and co-writing (with Steve Allrich), and sees Neeson back on VERY familiar territory in an exciting and sometimes violent thriller.

The nice concept behind the story sees Tom (Neeson) as a hugely successful bank robber meeting the love of his life in Annie (Kate Walsh) and committing to jack it all in for love.

Furthermore, not wishing to have to live with the deception and guilt of his hidden life, he determines to hand himself over to the FBI, along with the $9 million stolen cash, in return for a lenient sentence.

There's a problem though: he's about the fifteenth person calling the FBI claiming to be the "In and Out Burglar", so no-one wants to take him seriously!

Boston area chief Sam Baker (Robert Patrick - the infamous 'Terminator' cop!) and his deputy Meyers (Jeffrey Donovan) casually put it on the "to-do" pile of agents Nivens (Jai Courtney) and Hall (Anthony Ramos).

The best laid plans run off the rails in a big way though when Nivens and Hall investigate and find that Tom is the real deal.

The concept here works nicely for a thriller, but the rest of the script is so formulaic that it's fairly and squarely a park your brain in the foyer (or, in the world we currently live, front room) movie.

For several of the actions and motives going on here, suspension of disbelief was required. Even given the limited competition in 2020, the script is in no way going to trouble the Academy (but you knew that going in, of course).

All that being said, Mark Williams has put together a tight and well-executed movie, not outstaying its welcome at only 99 minutes long. Even with the 15 year age difference, Neeson and Walsh make a believable couple (given that Neeson looks pretty good for his 68 years) and the chemistry between them is good too.

And for a pretty small movie, the supporting cast is pretty impressive also, but a major standout for me was the cinematography by Shelly Johnson (whose had a busy year with the latest 'Bill and Ted' movie and the straight-to-TV 'Greyhound' under his belt).

Indeed, Boston - always a great movie location - looks spectacular, and the framing of the car chase action sequence highly impressed me too.

My final few positives would be the villains, character depth and ending. I thought they did a very good job with the villains, they actually felt like threats to the characters and their actions made you despise them even more.

I mean, Jai Courtney, and despite a slightly campy and over the top performance, does a pretty decent job and I like that they contrasted with Anthony Ramose's character.

For me, there was only one really dodgy element of the movie: the special effects used in a certain house explosion/fire. The budget clearly didn't stretch to using practical effects, but it is what it is, I guess!

So, in closing, is 'Honest Thief' worth seeing? Yes, I emphatically reply! True, given what Neeson usually dolls out, my expectations for this movie were pretty low, but I was pleasantly surprised and in some moments, rather delighted by the overall acting, plot, dialogue and even the ending!

In short: The villain is incredibly dislikable! Liam Neeson is always reliable! And it features GREAT action throughout albeit all twisting and turning itself through, at times, a rather unusual storyline. Highly recommended! This is a Widescreen Presentation (2.39:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs.

'Honest Thief' will be available on Blu-ray™, DVD and Digital on December 29th, 2020 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.

Official Trailer

www.HonestThiefMovie.com

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www.uphe.com





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