Steal (2002)

Wow,some reviewers are way too harsh for this movie. Riders doesn't pretend be to be anything more than it is. Honestly I sometimes really ask myself what people are expecting from a movie that clearly is only a setup for stunts and action. And the stunts that are presented in the movies are beautifully done. Of course the acting is bad and the story not surprising. But boy did I have fun watching this movie. And this fun factor is not something that should be overlooked so easily. The fact that this movie and the actors don't take matters so seriously should also count for something. Since there are a lot of similar themed movies that do take themselves serious and which aren't nearly as entertaining as Riders. People craving for french action themed movies a la Luc Besson (like Taxi,Yamaksi or Banlieu 13) will have a blast watching this movie.

Fmovies: This is by far the worst movie I have ever seen. Honestly the only reason I watched the entire movie is because I was forced to by friends, in fact I only registered with IMDb to protest my disgust of this movie. I know that I personally can't make a better movie, but the only reason being I do not have the funding to do so. This movie has no real plot and the dialog is the worst I have ever heard. See this movie at your own risk. I am completely disgusted that movies as bad as this gets shown in theaters. I would rather stab myself multiple times in the chest than watch this movie again. Please stay away, very AWFUL movie, 1 star, and that's only because I did not have the option of choosing 0 stars.

I thought the acting by the guy playing the detective was the best thing about the movie. Sure, there's no award for him but he makes the movie funny!

The action was cool, and one of the actors reminded me of Tom Green. I had a great time watching this with my friends, and if you want some action without having to think about the plot, RENT THIS MOVIE.

Steal fmovies. "Riders" is that rare thing - a bad movie that has nothing at all to recommend it. Oh sure, there are some neat (but unoriginal) stunts, and the people are cute to look at. But that's all. Really.

The film's French tagline - "Bank robbery is an extreme sport" - says where the film is coming from: it's the equivalent of that endless sports channel footage of skaters and snowboarders, but done as a heist movie. Unfortunately, it has about the same attention to character and scenario development as the sports channel footage.

The attraction of heist movies is watching the clever plot unfold, unravel, and then either work or fall apart. "Riders" doesn't offer any of that. No tension, no development, nada. Just another implausible heist, another burst of extreme sports footage, then back to the clubhouse for the cool young dudes to plan their next coup.

Except that they don't plan. Or rehearse much. Everything seems to 'just happen'. "Oh look, we just pulled off another perfectly- executed heist. How about that?"

This goes for the inevitable entanglements as well - the bad guys who want their share of the loot just seem to surge out of the woodwork on cue. Despite all the masks and disguises and extreme sports getaways, no one - police or thieves - actually seems to have any difficulty working out who these people are and where to find them. Did they leave flyers at the scene of the crime? Put up a website or something? The director doesn't tell, but telling a coherent story is apparently not one of his priorities.

There's lots more not to like. The dialogue is clunky, the performances are mediocre at best. The four hip young things and Natasha Henstridge are merely lacklustre; it's left to the veteran actors to really drag the movie down to the depths where it belongs. Bruce Payne is bad by any standard, but the prize has to go to Steven Berkoff, whose unwatchable scenery-chewing (complete with gratingly-false Southern accent) breaks new ground in the history of bad acting. If they'd digitally replaced him with Jar-Jar Binks it would have been more convincing and less painful to watch.

To describe this as "Straight to video" material would be too kind. It's not even that good.

A gang of four thieves rob a bank and use roller blades to escape from the cops. This is the first of several daring robberies they have planned – the second involving an armoured car and an underwater escape. When they pull that off they find that, not only do they get the cash they wanted but they have also stolen millions worth of bonds. Things look good for everyone as they know they will at least be able to get half their value through a shifty broker; meanwhile though they not only have to cope with the cops but also some other groups that want the gang for other reasons.

When this film started I immediately thought of a French short film called Argent Content which was a substanceless but enjoyable short about a bank robbery followed by a cool roller skate escape. That short was style over substance but the short running time saved it. However Riders moved past this copy and started to just lift lots of stuff from other films – Heat, Sneakers etc, all the genre clichés are forced into the movie but sadly nobody took the time to structure them into a worthwhile film that made any sense. So many things are thrown at the screen but they make no sense nor do they hang together. So we have stunts for the sake of stunts, characters that lack any motivation, a Heat-style relationship that appears as quickly as it disappears and a plot that is just all over the place. It isn't awful but it is just so inane you wonder how on earth anyone ever though it was a good idea.

The cast seem promising on paper but on film they are mostly confused and poor. Dorff is sexy and has good presence but he cannot make anything of his confused character – but he does look sexy nonetheless. Henstridge is also sexy but other than that you have to wonder how long she worked on the movie – all the rest of her scenes could have been done in a few days before getting sweaty with Dorff. The idea that their characters would have somehow had a Pacino/De Niro relationship is just laughable. Speaking of laughable, Bruce Payne is in this film and is terrible. However at least he is in the movie, which cannot be 100% said for Steven Berkoff who just appears to be in his entirely own, twisted little film. Bennett, Cliché and McCarthy are all reasonable in support but neither they nor anyone else can do anything with this shambles of a film.

The crazy style of Taxi might have worked once but Pires' attempts to do it again here just fall flat and it just falls flat on its face from the very start. Pointless and inane and will please only the very, very undemanding genre fan.

Gerard Pires is a living legend in France since Taxi. But even "legends" are making mistakes. In Riders (in Holland known as Steal) is a B-movie in every way. It has a lot of car chases and action but that's the only positive thing about this product! The rest of the movie is as interesting as watching paint dry!

And did I mention acting? Oh my God, this is even worse, the guy who played the detective (I don't even want to know his name!!!!) must be forbidden playing a role ever again! This is the worst acting I have ever seen!!!!!