Review: No Sudden Move

Recently released con Don Cheadle is paired up with Benicio Del Toro and somewhat unhinged Keiran Culkin for a supposedly simple ‘babysitting’ job. While Culkin accompanies spineless GM accountant (David Harbour) to his place of work to retrieve some very important documents from his employer’s work safe, the other two men hold the rest of Harbour’s family (Noah Jupe and Amy Seimetz) hostage. Unsurprisingly, shit goes sideways, blood is spilled, and now Cheadle and Del Toro realise they were set up and need to figure out what to do next. Ray Liotta plays a volatile mafioso, a gigantic Brendan Fraser plays a mafia middleman/recruiter, Jon Hamm plays a police detective, Bill Duke plays an African-American gangster, and an uncredited Matt Damon turns up at the climax to play an important figure in the grand scheme of things.

 

Steven Soderbergh (“Erin Brockovich”, “Ocean’s Eleven”) and I just don’t get along very often. I’ve tried. I’ve really tried. Even his best films aren’t as impressive to me as they seem to be to other people. His debut film “sex, lies, and videotape” was one I admired more than I enjoyed, as well as the equally admirable “Traffic”. “Behind the Candelabra” and “The Limey” were OK I guess. The rest though? Meh at best, and awful in the case of “Unsane” and “Let Them All Talk”. The plot to this 2021 heist drama sounded interesting to me as did some of the cast members. Unfortunately, I was never quite as engaged by it as I would’ve liked, though some of the supporting performances are good and so is the camerawork.

 

It’s a stylish film and it starts well with some nice snap combined with a rhythmic score by David Holmes (“Ocean’s Eleven”, TV’s “Killing Eve”). After a while though, Soderbergh and screenwriter Ed Solomon (“Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure”, “Men in Black”, the underrated “Now You See Me”) seem to stop being interested in telling a crime-caper story and start getting more interested in the workings of the American automobile industry in the 1950s. I didn’t give two shits about 1950s exhaust pollution problems or greedy, soulless capitalist businessmen, I’m afraid. I also didn’t give two shits about the lead characters played by the normally reliable Don Cheadle and Benicio Del Toro, who seem to have left their respective charisma at home. Del Toro, an excellent actor most of the time, is shockingly flat for once (he looks bored) and Cheadle’s character just never grabbed me at all. When your main plot for a heist film devolves into boring car/pollution talk, that’s a pretty big problem. When you aren’t remotely interested in the lead characters, that’s a big-arse problem. Character and story are king to me. Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised given I haven’t enjoyed any of Soderbergh’s caper films including the overrated “Out of Sight”.

 

It’s a shame because the film does have some good qualities and some fine performances, notably by young Noah Jupe (who is excellent), but also Kieran Culkin, a distressingly massive Brendan Fraser, an amusing David Harbour (playing the film’s most compelling character), a cameo-providing Matt Damon (having fun it seems), a smooth-as-ever Bill Duke, and a well-cast Jon Hamm who was born to play a 50s police detective. Ray Liotta is his usual fine self, but a late arrival. I never thought I’d be comparing Brendan Fraser to Sidney Greenstreet of Francis L. Sullivan, but that’s who he reminded me of here in his role as a mob middleman. It’s a damn good turn but boy do I hope he’s doing OK (apparently the weight gain was partly for another film). Culkin meanwhile may not look much like a dangerous threat, but playing a loose cannon here he’s got a gun and a complete lack of give-a-shit, which may be even worse than physically intimidating size.

 

Maybe the issue is that it’s written by a guy best known for comedies and lightweight capers. Here screenwriter Solomon is delivering a not-so lightweight caper with too many characters and a destination I just didn’t see the fuss with. I just shrugged my shoulders in slight annoyance, thinking it’d be fine and dandy in something else, but a heist movie? No thank you, I’m not here for car or pollution talk.

 

A dull, convoluted script combined with two fairly dull leads saw my interest come and go throughout this affair. The director tries to inject some energy to it, but that’s mostly in the first half. Somewhat watchable I guess, but very disappointing and banal as a heist movie. But hey, if you’re into American corporate/automotive history, here’s your movie.

 

Rating: C+