Review of Armored (2009) by Oxana — 24 Aug 2014

This movie felt very short, fast-paced, quick, and good in an odd mix. The writing was lacking a bit, because nothing seemed to be happening while the movie still managed to be a rather good one, moving forward constantly.

The characters had very little introduction, but the cast was good. I watched this movie to see Milo Ventimiglia in it, but Jean Reno, Amaury Nolasco, Skeet Ulrich and Laurence Fishburne didn't hurt either. All in all the performances were good, surprisingly so.

There was some serious stumbling in character development, though; where in the beginning Mike (Matt Dillon) swore that he was going to take care of Ty and his brother Jimmy, who had been recently orphaned and are struggling to keep their home, the genuine will to help turned to lust for money at some point - for the whole crew. The change happened so fast I wasn't sure where it came from, because when a man who is first giving you advice and being your best buddy tries to run over you by the end of the day... well, you get the point.

All in all I was rather pleased with this movie, and can imagine watching it again. It isn't a strong story, but a good portrayal of a crime gone very wrong when things start to go downhill despite the good planning beforehand.

And this much must be said about Milo's performance as Eckehart: creepily, embarrassingly real! Because I can imagine a grown man will look and sound like that when they are shot, no matter how tough they are. Brilliant.