Review of Thief (1981) by Jluis_001 — 30 Jan 2022

Considered one of Michael Mann's classics - which is surprising considering this film was also his directorial debut - Thief left a good impression on me, although it's not the magnificent spectacle I was expecting. I've always stressed that you have to judge by results and not by personal expectations, so I can't avoid mentioning the flaws that Thief shows, especially in its rhythm and structure, since there are slow passages that barely contribute anything significant. Mostly due to the fact that the story is very thin.

The film burns almost an hour and a half of its running time, between the introduction, some of the development of its main characters and the ''big heist'' before triggering the climax, which feels rather rushed.

I guess Mann thought the coffee shop talk between James Caan and Tuesday Weld would be enough to get to know them both, but I think that was just a part of them that the film completely forgets afterwards. Thief was entertaining, there's no denying that, but I guess it's not the classic I'd been told it was all these years.