Screen Rant’s Paul Young reviews Armored

Every once in a while a movie comes out of nowhere that totally catches me by surprise. Black Dog, Hard Rain and Deep Rising are still three of my favorite mid-budget action flicks that got very little advertising or respect but managed to be very enjoyable in the theaters. All three also made into my DVD library – and now Armored will join them on my shelf.

There are some minor spoilers in the following review.

Nimrod Antal, the guy directing Predators, has done a very good job of making Armored fun and interesting without blowing it way over-the-top. From what I can tell, this is writer James Simpson’s first time with pen to produced script, and he has done a great job of putting together a semi-plausible plot with interesting characters. I never truly felt an emotional attachment to any of the characters but honestly, I don’t need that to enjoy every film I watch.

That’s not to say the actors in the film didn’t do a great job of bringing their roles to life. Columbus Short (Stomp the Yard) plays Ty Hackett, an ex-soldier working as a security guard on an armored truck. Ty is also raising his younger brother, Jimmy (Andre Kinney) after both of their parents passed away in the same year. The cause of their death is never really addressed but the effect is easy to see. The bank is hassling Ty for payments that is he struggling to make; Jimmy is missing school and Social Services is threatening to split the brothers up and put Jimmy in foster care.

Ty is looking for extra shifts at work but there just aren’t any to be had. That’s when his friend, co-worker, partner and godfather Mike Cochrone (Matt Dillon) comes to him with this plan to rob their own trucks. He and a handful of the guards – Quinn (Jean Reno), Baines (Laurence Fishburne), Palmer (Amaury Nolasco) and Dobbs (Skeet Ulrich), have decided to recreate an armored truck heist from 1988 where as Cochrone puts it, “There are no bad guys.”

They will pick up $42 million dollars in two trucks, go stash it somewhere, report that they have been robbed, then come back and collect their bounty – easy peasy, lemon squeezy. Well the first part of the plan goes off well, and they end up with the money and manage to stash half and that’s when the manure hits the whirling blades.

They discover a homeless man sleeping in the abandoned warehouse where they are hiding and Baines, who is the trigger-happy/least-smart one of the bunch, hauls off and shoots the guy. Ty, who is already having doubts about the whole caper, doesn’t want blood on his hands and tries to help the homeless man who isn’t quite dead. That comes to an abrupt end via Cochrone’s pistol and Ty runs for the safety of the truck with the others in pursuit. He tries to radio for help but the signal is weak, so he tries to drive away.

What ensues is a very unique take on the requisite car chase and could quite possibly be the best car chase this year. Now, it isn’t as good as good as the car chases in Ronin, Bourne Identity or Transporter, but this is the first time I can recall seeing two armored trucks chasing each other.

After pulling a NASCAR-type maneuver (read: driving in a circle), they end up back where they started and Ty is trapped in the truck with seemingly no way out. He tries the siren which is soon disabled but not before catching the attention of Officer Eckehart (Milo Ventimiglia). One thing leads to another and Eckehart soon ends up shot in the gut and lying in the back of the truck with Ty (this was actually shown in the trailer, so I don’t think you can call it a real spoiler).  From there, things continue to break down within the group as tensions rise until the story reaches its action packed climax.

Overall, Simpson has written a great story but that’s not to say the plot doesn’t have some holes in it I would have liked to have seen filled. A few of the characters in the story are driven by attitudes or personalities that don’t match what we’ve learned about them. There are a couple of military bashing comments that got under my skin but they are fleeting.  Some of the story elements don’t make too much sense, for example – the warehouse where they are hiding the money is near were Ty and Cochrone live. That doesn’t make much sense but it could have been a shooting location issue as opposed to a story issue.

Bottom line, if you are in the market for a enjoyable action film where you can just enjoy the movie without a lot of nitpicking or over-thinking, then you could do worse the Armored.

This week we see who is riding high at the box office; Hex marks the spot for Josh Brolin; Eric Bana is Armored; Frank Darabont isn’t a Law Abiding Citizen and we discover what Robert Downey Jr looks like as Sherlock Holmes.

Box Office

This week Beverly Hills Chihuahua remained top dog with a second week gross of around $18 million. Frightener flick Quarantine opened strongly in second place with a solid $14 million, while Ridley Scott’s Leonardo DiCaprio/ Russell Crowe starrer Body of Lies bowed to $13 million. That’s gotta hurt. Scott, Crowe and Di Caprio don’t come cheap, so the film will have to scoop some major award nods to help it make some solid bank. Having said that; with the film’s pedigree there should be some big international numbers to help off-set the lacklustre US gross. The Dennis Quaid/ Rob Brown (no relation) inspirational sports film The Express dropped the ball with a mild $5 million weekend. The Bill Murray kids Pic City of Ember tanked with a pathetic $3 million gross. A shame really – but its failure might just make Ghostbusters 3 happen. Meanwhile Shia La Boeuf’s Eagle Eye has flown to $70 million.

Movie News

1. Word on the street is that former Goonie and No Country for Old Men star Josh Brolin is apparently locked and loaded to play Jonah Hex in a film adaptation of the comic book of the same name, that is to be titled…er…Jonah Hex.

Earlier in the year Thomas Jane pitched for the role – even going so far as to produce photographs to persuade the filmmakers. Alas, they don’t seem to have taken the bait.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Thomas Jane ain’t going to be happy.

Source: Holywood Elsewhere

2. One time Hulk Eric Bana will star in Armored, a remake of the French film Le Convoyeur.

The adaptation was written by David Ayer and Andrew Kevin Walker. According to Variety:

“(The) Story follows a man who takes a job for an armored car company and ingratiates himself with his co-workers, who trust him enough to make him part of their heist plans. Unbeknownst to his colleagues, the man had his own motives for taking the job.”

F. Gary Grey will helm the pic, which will net Bana $7.5 million. However, the deal does rely on scheduling – the film starts shooting on April 1^st (that’s no joke), but Bana will have press duties for Star Trek in May.

Oh, and the film should more than likely undergo a title change!

Source: Variety

3. Forrest Whitaker will star in and direct a biopic of Louis Armstrong. The film titled It’s a Wonderful World (original) hopes to follow in the critical and box office success of Walk the Line and Ray.

Sounds like solid casting. Let’s just hope when Forrest comes down to editing the movie he doesn’t feel that we have all the time in the world. Ahem.

Source: Variety

4. Wanna see Robert Downey Jr as Sherlock Holmes?

Does anybody else think Chaplin?

Source: Just Jared

That’s it for this week. See you at the movies.