Movie Review: Armored

Armored (2009) 

Directed by Nimrod Antal

Written by James V. Simpson

Starring Matt Dillon, Columbus Short, Jean Reno, Laurence Fishburne, Skeet Ulrich

Release Date December 4th, 2009 

Published December 4th, 2009 

Streaming Rental via Amazon Prime 

Armored is the latest attempt by Hollywood to look engaged and aware of the current economic condition. At its center is a character making less than a living wage and about to lose his home and the desperate lengths he considers going to in order to save everything.

Columbus Short stars in Armored as Ty a former Iraq war veteran who returns home to a crumbling neighborhood and a teenage brother to take care of. The bank is looking to foreclose on Ty's house and the only job he can get is a part time gig as a guard working for an armored car company.

Ty's pal Mike (Matt Dillon) got him the job and does what he can to help him out. Mike has a plan, with the help of 4 other guards they will set up a robbery of their own trucks. 42 million dollars can go a long way toward solving Ty's problems but he only agrees to go along after a threat by child services to take his little brother away.

The plan comes off without a hitch, initially. Hiding the trucks in an abandoned industrial building the crew begins off-loading the cash when Baines (Laurence Fishburne) spots a homeless guy hiding in the building. He kills the guy and Ty realizes that things have gone too far. He locks himself in one of the trucks and sets off the alarm to try and draw attention. A cop (Milo Ventimiglia) does arrive and he too is shot. 

Ty makes an effort to save the cop and stop the bad guys and that is where Armored gets its juice. Directed by Nimrod Antal, Armored gets off to an exceptionally slow start but once it picks up some speed it gets pretty entertaining. Columbus Short is a likable actor who holds the screen well as well as our hero. Matt Dillon as the villain is backed up well  by Laurence Fishburne, Skeet Ulrich and Jean Reno.

As for how timely Armored is? The idea of a guy willing to rob an armored truck to save his house is more of a motivational conceit than a comment on our times. Armored isn't much related to our current economic conditions as it as a coincidence. This film has been made a few times before and could work just as well in a prosperous economy; there's always someone who’s struggling.

Armored is an old school action flick with good chase scenes, gunplay and a strong hero. Director Nimrod Antal takes a little while to get things going but the final act moves fast toward a satisfying action flick conclusion. If everything is tied up a little too neatly; call it a function of modern pop entertainment, modern audiences hate a down ending.

Movie Review Predators

Predators (2010) 

Directed by Nimrod Antal 

Written by Alex Litvak 

Starring Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Walton Goggins, Laurence Fishburne

Release Date July 9th, 2010 

Published July 8th, 2010

The idea of Adrian Brody, the Oscar winner for “The Pianist,” as a mercenary action hero does not sound promising. Known for his gaunt, lithe, boney physique and offbeat taste in films, Brody doesn't leap immediately to mind as the man to take the reigns of a franchise that originated with the testosterone heavy likes of Carl 'Action Jackson' Weather, Jesse 'the Body' Ventura and the ultimate muscled action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger.

This fact makes Brody's unusual success in “Predators” such a delight. With an ironic wink, a comic growl and an actor's commitment Brody nails the role of an unnamed mercenary dropped into an alien game preserve to play out a sci-fi version of Richard Connell's “Most Dangerous Game.”

Seven bloodthirsty killers find themselves falling from the sky with only moments to open an unusual looking parachute. The 8th man is a doctor (Topher Grace) and he is something of an anomaly against the 7 who are made up of a mercenary soldier (Brody), a South American freedom fighter (Alice Braga), a Mexican drug dealer (Danny Trejo) a Russian Special Forces soldier (Oleg Taktarov), an African mercenary (M. Ali), a death row inmate (Walton Groggins) and a member of the Yakuza (Louis Ozawa Changchien).

The mystery of the doctor character will be revealed eventually but first this ragtag band of characters must work through some highly inferential and often expositional dialogue while we in the audience engage in the “Predators” drinking game, which involves guessing the order in which the killers will be killed. Fun game if you bring alcohol to the theater.

Now, my irreverence might indicate that I didn't like “Predators” but au contraire, I actually loved Predators. This is some of the most fun you will have at a theater this year. Some of the joy may not be intentional on the part of director Nimrod Antal and writer-producer Robert Rodriguez but there is an undeniably intentional level of cheese, especially from star Adrien Brody.

Taking to heart the fact that no one sees him as an action hero, Brody bulks up a little and lays on a thick growl to sell the tough guy persona. That it kind of works is, I think, part of the joke. Brody is ingenious in Predators bringing an actor's flourish to one dopey action hero role. It is a brilliantly, wonderfully, odd performance and the main reason “Predators” is so much goofy fun.

There is more than a little cheese and winking irony in “Predators” plus a guy gets his spine ripped out (Awesomely). What more can you ask from a completely over the top action and effects spectacular? “Predators” may not be great cinema but it is a terrifically fun summer movie.