A cannon shot that awaits a sequel
Consistency is hard to find among action stars. Some manage to find excellence by always working with trustworthy and high-level people, while others alternate very high points with very low ones. Then there is the Gerard Butler category, which is not close to excellence but always meets a level between acceptable and notable. At specific moments, he manages to make a big splash with things like ‘A Thief’s Game: The Perfect Heist’.
The heat of Los Angeles
The best thriller of his career is a fast-paced confrontation that borders on criminal epic, at least for its duration of almost two and a half hours. But they are minutes very much used by director Christian Gudegast, who creates a powerful experience that can be enjoyed today watch on television through Antena 3 starting at 10:45 p.m..
A group of experienced thieves are in Los Angeles to carry out his biggest hit to date: rob the Federal Reserve and take over the 120 million dollars it puts into circulation daily. Standing in his way will be the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, especially the chaotic and incorrect Detective Nick O’Brien.
If all this sounds extremely similar to ‘Heat’, it’s because it’s all a more brutalized and gritty version of Michael Mann’s classic action thriller. Its unleashed duration is just one of the signs in which it tries to resemble itself, but far from remaining a totally dispensable copy finds the most exciting part of the story and exploits it to the fullest.
It’s not as beautifully stylized, it doesn’t have as fascinating a dynamic between two leads on opposite sides of the law, and it doesn’t have one of the best heist scenes of all time. But it has all that to a more than competent levelbeing more effective than many derivative pieces and also more consciously fun.
A Butler who dominates the film, and who brings out his best version of Al Pacino’s character in his most cocaine-addicted side, especially contributes to this. It’s impossible to avoid seeing the connections, but at the same time he embraces them so wholeheartedly that it’s hard not to get hooked on his journey, loaded with dirty adrenaline and street muscle. At the peak of the actor’s career.
In Espinof | The best action movies
In Espinof | The best movies of 2024
