Review of American Heist (2014) by Carlos I — 11 Sep 2015

American Heist is a dumb action thriller that has hollow characters, dull direction, and stale acting. This film is like the cheap budget version of Ben Affleckâ(TM)s The Town. The action scenes tried to be intense and even the visual effects were tacky. Hayden Christensen is a low-key underrated actor, who does have the potential of giving a decent performance, if he accepted better scripts. The acting in the movie was quite stale coming from the talented cast like Adrian Brody, Jordana Brewster, and Hayden Christensen. The script was not any better; it had no character development, no exposition. It did not leave much to show any sympathy for the characters.

James (Hayden Christensen) is a man, who had a rough past with family issues and his brother Frankie (Adrian Brody) is now out of prison. James thought he could start over and get a better life for himself. Frankie decides to bring him back to this underground group of thugs in trying to do a heist in robbing a bank.

The script was horrendous, and a plot that has been done before. A guy trying to do good until his family brings him back into the crime world. The guy falls for a girl and has to distant himself from her to protect her. The characterization between Hayden and Jordana was bland, and it just felt awkward with the two on screen. It needed a better-written script to even see that. The direction was boring, basically seeing majority of the whole movie of James, feeling sad, and angry with his brother for forcing him into the crime world. Until the big bank robbery occurs, and it is an all out guns shooting. It feels like a redundant version of Michael Mannâ(TM)s Heat film, which was way better with the acting and direction. American Heist is a horrible action film that goes nowhere with the characters, boring action, and a terrible script that does have plot holes.