Review of Band of Robbers (2016) by Mitchell B — 30 Jun 2016

BAND OF ROBBERS - Movie Review.

A-.

Grown-ups Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn and two old friends search for hidden treasure inside a pawn shop which dads to more circumstances.

Adam Nee, Matthew Gray Gubler, Kyle Gallner, Melissa Benoist, Hannibal Buress.

Initial release: January 15, 2016.

Director: Aaron Nee, Adam Nee.

Quirky, cunning, and even a little heartwarming, this is a perfect example of taking a classic story and offering it to a brand new audience. Sharp, funny, big-hearted, and absolutely true to the spirit of the author in question. It's a lot of fun, everything is brought together cleverly in a funny romp, unlike most movies today one can follow the plot and story line all along and also, every word of the movie can be understood, seems like every movie anymore has the actors mumbling lines, speaking fast and unintelligible. Capturing the heart of the novel and injecting a quirky, introspective sensibility, here is an example of filmmaking at its most inspired. The end result may read as a gussied-up Funny or Die conceit at times, but through a surprising dramatic focus and well-written script it still performs wonderfully as an absurdist crime comedy with a wicked streak. This sprightly and very funny caper film-which is also an affecting meditation on friendship and the pain of growing up-is surprisingly engaging.

I haven't seen any of Aaron Nee or Adam Nee's work before but this film is brilliant and has great value. For me, the Nee brothers pulled off a winner, hope I see more of you.

After watching the trailer for this film I expected the acting to be okay because the trailer didn't really give anything away or show important scenes so I continued with low expectations. The acting and casting in this film are a lot better than I thought, I haven't seen any of Adam Nee's work but he was very good as Tom Sawyer. I expected Matthew Gray Gubler to be very good too as Joe Harper because I've seen him in Criminal Minds, the Alvin and the Chipmunks films and 500 Days of Summer. Kyle Gallner was brilliant and he made the character Huck Finn his own, I've only seen him in A Nightmare on Elm Street and American Sniper but he seems really recognisable. Melissa Benoist is always great in whatever she's in, she did an amazing job along with Adam Nee and Kyle Gallner, she is in Supergirl, Whiplash, Danny Collins, Glee and The Longest Ride. Stephen Lang was decent, other than that. Everyone else was good. There was no below average acting.

The only negatives in this film was the tone was changed big time towards the climax and it seemed a tiny bit predictable during the film.

*Script for YouTube channel review.