While I can understand why talented actor Robert Forster (who looks somewhat ghastly here, like he's coming off a major illness) is appearing in a direct-to-video movie (at least in North America), I don't understand why Morgan Freeman and Antonio Banderas are doing in a direct-to-video movie. Surely they are still getting calls from major studios? Did they really need the money? Anyway, they bring their natural charisma to this movie... but not much more. Freeman doesn't seem to be trying very hard in his performance, and Banderas doesn't watch his accent, making some of the words he says hard to figure out.
The production values are mostly very decent, a trademark of direct-to-video kings Millennium/Nu Image Films. Although this set-in-New-York film was partially filmed in Bulgaria, it doesn't show. The only flaw in the production values was the CGI used in the subway sequences. It looks pretty cheesy.
The heist central to this movie has some tension, but I found it hard to get involved. For one thing, many of the steps the Freeman and Banderas characters use to foil the various security measures are never fully explained to the audience. Even worse is that it's implied that this heist was planned in JUST A FEW DAYS! Seeming all these security measures they have to conquer, it would really take weeks, even months to plan! The movie is never really boring, but in the first half of the movie you can kind of guess what will happen in the next scene. There are twists towards the end, but they are expected, as in other caper movies like this one. Such twists happening are no longer a surprise. Plus, as they start to unfold, you will start to guess just what new twists will happen.
Wait until it comes on cable... on a rainy day... when there's absolutely nothing else to do or watch.
