American Heist (2014)

American Heist struggles with many things, as for a straight to video film. Starring Adrien Brody and Hayden Christensen. Featuring in the film, is shown as Brody's slim, wiry frame is muscled here in a fashion that recalls his presence in Predators. Although there, his makeover felt like a stunt, but in American Heist it lends wasted subtext to a desperate protagonist. Occasionally, we see Brody moves you in spite of himself, and trying to act to lift up the film but it doesn't work, with the way of the weakened writing and directing. A positive about the film and its characters is the presence of Hayden Christensen,where he makes a good hero and shows some warmth in his scenes with Jordana Brewster, however only to noticing their subplot doesn't amount to anything at all. American Heist tends to play as a lesser Heat or the Town.

Fmovies: This is an average movie. The story isn't that great, the actors aren't really that good, and even the title of the movie is not well chosen. The first hour is just about the difficult relationship between two brothers, with a lot of crying and moaning. Add in that plot a woman and a couple of wannabe gangsters and you get the story. I wasn't that impressed by their acting plus the storyline is kind of boring and sometimes even so far fetched it's getting annoying. And then after one hour of sitting through all of this you finally get the "Heist". No big deal at all, just a bunch of amateurs going in a bank and hope they don't get caught. A lot more crying and bad scenarios and you are finally done with this movie. Don't waste your time with this one.

At least I had Star Wars ... or The Pianist. Depending which actor might have thoughts about his career, the answers are there. Hayden hit the Jackpot (I hope for him) with the Star Wars franchise and Adrien Brody had his critical success with Polanski. The latter seems to be doing a neat movie from time to time, though he also seems to be doing some very bad ones too.

This isn't a really bad one, though you wonder about the characters and how Mr. Brody came to play a character like this. I guess it had to do with the family business in the script and a scene where he can "shine" if you want to call it that. It's really rather annoying not to mention predictable.

American Heist fmovies. After serving ten years in prison in New Orleans, the smalltime criminal Frankie Kelly (Adrien Brody) comes to the house of his younger brother, James Kelly (Hayden Christensen), who is a mechanic in a local workshop. James is dating the gorgeous Emily (Jordana Brewster), who works as operator in the NOLA Police Ddepartment, and lives a honest life. Frankie introduces James to his friends Sugar (Akon) and Ray (Tory Kittles) that helped him in the prison and soon James learns that they are planning a bank heist with the gangster Spoonie (Luis Da Silva Jr.). He tries to recuse to participate but Ray forces him threatening his older brother. What will James do?

"American Heist" is a boring and melodramatic heist film. The relationship between Frankie and James is never dramatic but seems to be a soap opera. The awful end of the film without the conclusion of the story is not an intelligent open end, like in many European movies, but simply lack of ending. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "O Último Golpe" ("The Last Coup")

I caught the premiere of this movie at the Toronto International Film Festival this week and out of all the films I screened this week, this was by far the worst. Audience members walked out mid way and rightfully so.

Adrian Brody attempted to play a hardened criminal however came off more as a leisure suited forgettable character. Set in New Orleans neither Brody or Christensen could maintain any type of accent or connection.

Hayden Christensen appears in a role often played by Casey Affleck only without any sort of stage presence. There was zero connection between these two supposed brothers mixed with random crying scenes to evoke failed emotions.

Akon proves that he's just as forgettable as an actor as he is a music artist and having his music included in the soundtrack only added to the ridiculousness of this film.

With a plot containing so many holes that the end was seen before the 15 minute mark hit lets you know what you're in for. Borrowing from Heat and The Town, American Heist leaves the audience wanting more and wondering what and why they just watched.

Jordana Brewster looks great and was probably the only redeeming quality of the film for that reason alone.

Save your time and money and avoid this one.

There seems to be something inherently lacking about American Heist. Be it may the boring pace or the lackluster script, the movie is considerably basic and uninteresting. Story follows James (Hayden Christensen) who is forced to do a heist by his brother Frankie (Adrien Brody). That's practically all there is to it, yet the movie is needlessly bloated by pointless cliché of crime drama.

It takes literally an hour before any momentum can be achieved. At that span of time American Heist is a repetitive foray of tired love subplot and awkward script which consists of refined use of words such as "Fuck" and "Bro" in every other sentences. It feels so dreary and dry as the cast could perform so much more.

Adrien Brody is certified good, bless him for trying so hard with so little, although in the end the performance is unintentionally uncomfortable. Hayden Christensen can definitely deliver better performance, in fact he did in Takers, which is exactly the same genre. Heck, even Jordana Brewster in Fast and Furious franchise has had better material to work with. Her role in this film is so redundant, almost a glorified wallflower even.

This is quite surprising since the movie has some good production. When it gets going the cinematography is pretty good. Using action oriented shots and presentation with the city in rain, the tension is elevated on the last act. However, it's barely enough to get audience's attention, especially after the comparatively weak start.

American Heist may boast some famous name and a glint of decent visual, but the tedious and generic material is a waste of time and money.