After successfully robbing a series of banks, Tom Dolan (Liam Neeson) meets Annie Wilkins (Kate Walsh), and they soon fall in love. However Tom decides that if they are to have a chance at a happy life together, he must first pay for his sins. But when he tries to turn himself in, he is framed for murder by two corrupt FBI agents looking to keep the stolen money for themselves. Now Tom must utilise his "particular set of skills" to clear his name... so he can turn himself in and go to prison.
The first thing that strikes you when watching Honest Thief is; if you're a bank robber looking to give up your life of crime, and the authorities have no clue who you are, maybe just stop robbing banks. It seems like a lot less hassle. You can always find a way to anonymously return the money, that is, if you want to. The second thing that strikes you is that simply quitting being a bank robber would definitely be the easier choice, given all of the extra crimes you'll have to commit in order to clear your name. In fact, I'm fairly sure Tom would do more time for the things he did to clear his name than the actual robberies. The movie does at least demonstrate that crime doesn't pay... or at least takes a lot of effort.
Beyond that, Honest Thief is still fairly entertaining. There's no denying that Neeson makes a good action star. The problem is that lately he seems to do it in some pretty generic action movies. I mean, there is some fairly decent action here, including a couple of good chases. Tom even employs a few clever - albeit predictable - tricks to get one over on his enemies. Once you get into it, however, the movie does have a kind of quirky appeal, mostly thanks to the odd relationship between Tom and the lead FBI agent hunting him, Sean Meyers (Jeffrey Donovan). The look on Meyers' face every time he has dealings with Tom; a kind of stunned bewilderment, can be rather amusing. Meyers' relationship with his dog is also a source of some amusement, that and a good advert for 'Bring Your Dog To Work Day'.
Neeson and Walsh both deliver good performances, they make a nice couple, in fact. As for the FBI guys trying to frame him, there's not a lot of room for nuance in a pair of greedy, bent cops, but Jai Courtney and Anthony Ramos do a decent enough job. Whereas Tom is rather likeable, unsurprising really, given who's playing him. The problem is he's just a tad too likeable, too honest to be a really interesting thief. And with the way people feel about banks - and insurance companies - his crimes are made to feel kind of victimless. There's no redemption for him to find, nothing for him to make up for. Even the ending is a little vague, like they're actively trying to avoid sending Tom to jail. Or at least avoiding showing it to us. Unfortunately, it's all just a bit too squeaky clean to really thrill.
Honest Thief proves to be a fairly entertaining action movie, it's just a bit too honest for its own good.
4/10
Honest Thief is available to watch on Amazon Prime.
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