User reviews

I'm not here to tell you "Armored" is Kubrickian, Hitchcockian or Fellini-esquire. Nope. Referenced directors are more like Don Siegel ("Charlie Varrick") and Walter Hill ("The Warriors"). Those two helmers didn't fool around with niceties like putting women in their movies. No skirts need apply. They unapologetically made guy movies. Guns, lots of guns. Men met violent death with a twitch of the jaw. Their movies were like a sap to the head. You want a friend? Get a dog.

"Armored" is so a guy movie. Dueling armored trucks? Bloody gunshot wounds? Exploding money? If that doesn't get the lizard part of your brain excited, then stay away.

At 88 minutes, "Armored" is all muscle without an ounce of fat. We meet six security guards who drive armored trucks, three per truck. The six, led by Matt Dillon, scheme up a fake hijack involving two trucks. Their mission one day is to deliver $42 million from the federal reserve (I think). The idea is to drive both trucks to a warehouse, stash the cash, then stage a hijack. Sure, the cops will suspect them, but if they stick together they'll get through it.

Trouble is, one of the six, played by Columbus Short, is a holdout. At first. But he faces eviction. And he's the guardian for his messed up younger brother. He needs cash bad.

Matt Dillon cajoles, pleads, persuades the holdout. No blood on anyone's hands. A clean getaway. All good, no bad. You'll be rich forever. Blue skies smiling at you ...

Right.

Everything goes to hell, of course. It's one damned thing after another and the stakes keep going up. And it almost all happens claustrophobically inside an abandoned warehouse somewhere in Los Angeles. In fact, the movie goes out of its way to project a backdrop of industrial urban decay. I happen to like industrial urban decay.

Kudos to Matt Dillon, who plays the top bad dog. He goes from charming to disappointed to frustrated to outraged to totally effing insane in the course of the movie. Love that guy.

Also, credit is due to the menacing, throbbing, blistering and totally sinister electronic soundtrack by John Murphy. I am guessing he's heard a few Tangerine Dream records.

Also, it's surprising that this is a PG-13 movie. I caught one — one! — f-bomb in this entire movie about violent tough-guy robbers. On some level, I like that. Take the kids.

The director is Nimrod Antal, a Hungarian who made a fine noir set in the Budapest subway system called "Kontroll." Screenwriter is an out-of-nowhere guy called James V. Simpson.

A lot of the people in this movie are just starting out. I am willing to bet the esteem given to this movie will rise as time goes on and these filmmakers advance in their careers.

Good, boring or bad? It's good. Worth your money? If you can spare it for a ticket, sure. Better than the trailer makes it seem? Yes, oddly.

There isn't much to the script - Guards working at armored truck company move vast amounts of cash. Guards see opportunity to retire as millionaires, one of them is too honest to go along with it all, and a well-laid plan goes to hell.

This could have been a poorly-executed Reservoir Dogs ripoff, but the skill of the cast and the director's ability to make just about anything tense pull it out of that realm and put it onto a solid footing.

I was disappointed. I usually like heist movies but this one - "Armored" - was not smart, if you want a heist movie where they put together a great plan for the heist and there is tension to see if the plan will succeed and if they can get away with the money this is not that type of movie.

The heist plan in this film is one that was put together by dumb brutes and is not a focus of the movie. The movie is all about bloody action scenes with guns. Probably the biggest star in the movie is Laurence Fishburne, and he has put on a lot of weight and gotten fat, and none of the acting is all that good for any of the characters. But even as a dumb action movie it isn't anything special or worth seeing.

Armored tells the story of a few armored truck company workers who conjure a plan to steal 42 million dollars that they were suppose to transport. To pull this off, they need Ty, an Iraq war veteran who just joined the company. At first, Ty refuses to be a part of the scheme, but he desperately needs the money since he's in risk of loosing his house and his little brother might be taken away from him. Ty ends up agreeing with the all thing, but not before Mike, the leader of the guards, promise that no one will get hurt... Armored is a fast-moving heist film with a good amount of action and some unpredictable twists. Obviously, everyone can tell that things are not going to go smoothly but still, there are a few surprises and the film doesn't become predictable at any point. Looking at the cast of Armored, which is comprised by very well known actors like Jean Reno, Laurence Fishburn and Matt Dillon, one might expect a tremendous film given the quality of the actors, but that's not case. I'm not saying it's a bad film, it's not by any means but, it's not a film with depth either. If you're expecting something like that you'll be disappointed. This is a popcorn movie, there's not much to think about here, just turn your brain off and enjoy it. The acting was average with the exception of Matt Dillon who really stood out as the leader of the "bad guys". His character is a mean son of a bitch and Dillon played the role perfectly. The film fell a bit short in the third act though because the ending seemed a bit rushed. Bottom line is, Armored is entertaining and therefor a good watch, just make sure you know what kind film you're about to see.

6/10

Sandwiched between his VACANCY and PREDATORS, ARMORED is director Nimrod Antal's best film, although to be fair that isn't saying much. It's one of those single-location action movies with a relatively low budget (by Hollywood standards), most of which has been spent on assembling an ensemble cast of tough-guy actors. Matt Dillon, Jean Reno, Laurence Fishburne and Fred Ward, all of whom have appeared in great movies, are in supply here, albeit in supporting roles.

It's also a chance to find out what happened to SCREAM's Skeet Ulrich, if anybody cares these days. Sadly, there are two problems with ARMORED; the first is the no-name lead Columbus Short, a guy whose acting skills are pretty insipid, so you don't really care much about whether his character wins or loses. The second is the PG-13 rating, which eliminates the kind of hard-hitting violence of the early DIE HARDs that this film so desperately needs.

Saying that, it turns out to be a pretty entertaining little thriller. The storyline is basic in the extreme, but I'm a sucker for these single-location movies and in some ways the simplicity of the plot is more appealing than something in which the plotting is overdone, like MAN ON A LEDGE. The narrative is lean, pared-down and propelled by some good, surprising twists thrown into the mix. All of the big names give solid performances, and if it does get a little cheesy at times then that's par for the course. I'd rather a film be cheesy and entertaining than realistic and dull!

I had been amazed by director Antal's Kontroll back in 2003. His first American project, Vacancy, was less impressive but a decent start. Armored is his second feature and while the visual signature is recognizable, the film never rises above the level of a B movie.

It's a shame because the main premise has all the ingredients for twists and turns and the ensemble cast featuring many quality actors should be able to deliver. Antal could have made a great heist film but instead goes for an action flick. Then again he could have shot a cool action flick but it doesn't really deliver in that department either.

What you are left with is one implausible situation after another, a group of poorly sketched characters bicker and fight over a sum of money. If you look past the sharp cinematography, cast and the tight music score, you're left with what could have been a below average direct-to-video featuring Van Damme or Seagal.

This was probably the most disappointing movie for me in quite some time.

The war veteran Ty Hackett (Columbus Short) is hired to work as security guard by the Eagle Shield Security where his old friend Mike Cochroone (Matt Dyllon) works. Ty is having financial difficulties after the death of his father and is raising his brother Jimmy (Andre Jamal Kinney) alone. He teams up with Mike's brother-in-law Baines (Laurence Fishburne) and their coworkers Quinn (Jean Reno), Palmer (Amaury Nolasco) and Dobbs (Skeet Ulrich). One night, Mike invites Ty to robber the two armored trucks that will transport forty-two million dollars. The reluctant Ty accepts after the promise of Mike that nobody would be hurt in the heist. They bring the trucks to an old mill and hide the money in a hole; however their operation is witnessed by a tramp. Baines shots the man with his shotgun and Ty decides to help him; but when Mike executes the homeless man, Ty locks himself inside a truck with half the amount.

"Armored" is an action movie about an almost perfect plan to heist two armored trucks by the security guards that should protect the transported money. The key character is the ambiguous Ty, a man that is facing financial difficulties in his private life that accept to participate in the heist but betrays his friends. Therefore, the hero of "Armored" is actually a traitor that is rewarded in the end. This unlikable character should have been better developed in the screenplay to give a better explanation for his despicable attitude (the betrayal). On the other hand, the naiveness of the five experienced men inviting a newcomer on the eve of the scheduled date of a heist sounds very unreasonable. It is impressive how fat Laurence Fishburne is. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Assalto ao Carro Blindado" ("Heist of the Armored Car")

This is a decent movie. Although little bit short in time for me, it packs a lot of action, grit, commonsense and emotions in that time frame. Matt Dillon and the other main character does a great job in this movie. The emotions and intensity were convincing and tense throughout the movie. It is not typical fancy expensive Hollywood CGI action movie, but it was a very satisfying movie indeed for the price. My evening was great because of this movie. This movie is straight traditional action movie with great acting, story and directing. I would recommend this movie. The character development of the characters were good and makes you believe that were are actually seeing a real event taking place. Because this movie I believe was made with cheaper budget, the acting and quality were much higher.

This is one of those films (and there are too many of them) in which if you looked back over the things you saw, you'd find a million holes. I'm not sure I'd watch it again, but I'm not sorry I rented it, either. It was good escapism for an hour-and-a-half. It's no award-winner but it is not as bad as many people here portray it. It entertains.

Wow, did this movie get intense. It took awhile but when the heist began, and something went wrong, the rest of the film began to get incredibly suspenseful. A homeless man witnesses these men stashing the loot, the self-professed "good guys" (who are stealing $42 million) panic and shoot the man. Now one of the men in the heist turns on the others because he doesn't like this murder business. He did not sign up for this and, in fact, was reluctant about being part of the robbery, anyway.

The rest of the movie is the battle between that guy - "Ty Hackett" (Columbus Short) - and the rest of his gang of security men-gone bad. It reminded me of the brutal 1992 movie "Trespass" where a long intense battle scene was waged in a abandoned building. This turned out to be "Trespass 2." The cast was good in here and had some big names like Matt Dillon, Laurence Fishburne, Jean Reno and one of my favorites from years' past: Fred Ward, yet only Dillon made much of an impact.

This is a guy's movie; no women and a lot of violence, tough people and some blood-and-guts. It ain't "Tinker Bell." It definitely was entertaining and decently-photographed but had a "B" feel to it, which shouldn't have happened. As I said, it's worth a rental, and that's it.

Something of a pleasant surprise, "Armored" is an action movie heist yarn that is a bit lighter on the action and a bit heavier on the characterization than the majority of films in that particular genre.

Ty Hackett (Columbus Short) is the newest member of a team of armored-vehicle guards - a team that includes such familiar faces as Matt Dillon, Laurence Fishburne and Jean Reno - who plan to stage a robbery of several of their trucks, then keep the cash (42 million big ones) for themselves. A veteran of the Iraq war, Ty is a young man who's struggling to pay two mortgages while raising his troubled young brother following the death of their parents. Highly principled by nature, Ty is at first reluctant to join his compatriots in their illegal scheme, but his dire financial circumstances ultimately make the lure of easy money damn-near-impossible to resist. But when the job, rather predictably, doesn't go off quite as planned, the men, Ty included, are suddenly confronted with having to cross over that fine ethical line that separates the petty (or not-so-petty) crook from the cold-blooded killer.

Though the post-robbery scenes do feel a bit more trite and conventional than the pre-robbery ones, the movie, as a whole, is a sincere and well-played drama that does the best it can with its obviously limited resources and budget. This includes providing some sharp and well-written dialogue (by first-time screenwriter James V. Simpson) for characters who refuse to become walking stereotypes in a storyline that nicely sidesteps any number of potential heist-movie clichés. Similarly, director Nimrod Antal makes his minimalist action scenes count by reminding us that such sequences can still be exciting when we actually care about what happens to the people involved in them - and when they have a powerful dramatic dynamic operating at their core.

The performances are all first-rate, but special recognition must go to Short and Dillon who both use restraint and understatement to make their respective characters believable and genuine.

I went to see this movie today, with hopes that it would involve an at least half-intelligent story. I was extremely disappointed, as it did not. The plot, and the decisions by the main character, were so far-fetched. I was hoping for a "Dog Day Afternoon"-type movie, but instead got something totally unacceptable. I actually found myself totally hoping for the "hero" to be knocked off, and I nearly walked out of the theater on several occasions when this should have happened but didn't. Heist movies are notmeant to be feel-good flicks, and this one tried to be just that. Every couple of minutes during the second half of the movie, I found myself saying, "no way". Without giving the whole story away, it revolved around an armored car guard who was financially down and out, and whose house was going into foreclosure. He was invited in on a heist, and accepted, only to back down once the action began. Weak.

Alas despite a top-notch cast of Jean Reno, Matt Dillon and the normally reliable Lawrence Fishburne can't save this supposed "Action flick" of becoming a tasteless turkey. A basic story where security guards for an armoured truck company decide to steal millions of dollars of money but a newbie panics and it's splits up the team leading to problems. The script is terrible and very clichéd and even though the movie for the first half hour tries for character development (as it tried to be a sort of drama but fails miserably as it isn't touching in the slightest) it just leads to pointless talk about inconsequential things and as a result you just get bored. The film was far to slow in getting started and the action, well there was little of as it became more and more far fetched and actors who couldn't act. I was quite disappointed with this film particularly with Lawrence Fishburne as he was outstanding as Morpheous in the Matrix, as Ray Langston in CSI and great in a small cameo role in the recent predators. Though he did try better than the other actors the script didn't help. This is a movie which is bad in all departments and in the end I didn't care about the characters and what happened to them. This was an hour and a half but it felt like three hours. A bad movie all round and one to avoid.

Early morning, Ty Hackett (Columbus Short) is getting ready for work. He wakes up his younger brother, Jimmy (Andre Kinney), and tells him to get ready for high school. Both his parents recently died and left him with the mortgage and Jimmy to look out for. Ty is picked up by Mike Cochrane (Matt Dillon), and they carpool to work at the Eagle Shield Armored Truck Co. At work, the security team (Jean Reno, Laurence Fishburne, Amaury Nolasco, Skeet Ulrich) meets for the morning briefing with Chief Ashcroft (Fred Ward). Then the newbie guard for an armored truck company is coerced by his veteran coworkers to steal a truck containing $42 million. But a wrinkle in their supposedly foolproof scheme divides the group, and things get worse , leading to a potentially deadly resolution. They have a plan that's going to catch everybody off-guard !. They Did everything to make the Plan go well, What went wrong?

This is an impressive little thriller with strong violence , twists , turns with killings and action-packed finale , filled with double-crosses, greed and lethal retribution. The plot is plain and simple , the typical heist carried out by a motley group to rob a highly armored truck in broad daylight , but it goes wrong , an ordinary theme we have already seen in other films , here with the novelty that the peculiar gang of criminals are corrupt security guards . It results to be a bitter meditation on deceiving , defeat , treason , disenchantment and justice . Nimrod Atal's special achievement , giving a memorable work , attempting to incorporate his own personal obsessions into the steely violent events . A more professional and competent work than his early works , this one shows , set piece by set piece, the breakdown of the criminal codes with a team of corrupt roles whose activities little by little get worse . Dealing with an outlandish heist , that's ingeniously planned and meticulously filmed, but things go awry . Stars Columbus Short as a honest war hero, having earned the Silver Star in Iraq who becomes involved into a twisted hold-up . The film includes star-studded with great main and support cast giving competent interpretations , formed by popular and successful faces , including the following ones : Matt Dillon, Jean Reno, Laurence Fishburne, Amaury Nolasco, Fred Ward , Milo Ventimiglia , Skeet Ulrich and a teen Andre Jamal.

It contains an exciting and well-adjusted to the action musical score by composer John Murphy . As well as adequate and functional cinematography by cameraman Andrzej Sekula who also has directed a few films . The motion picture was well directed by Nimród Antal. He is best known for writing and directing the Hungarian-language film Kontroll (2003), which won numerous awards, including the Award of the Youth at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival and the Golden Hugo at the Chicago International Film Festival, as well as a European Film Award nomination for Best film . Antal's first American feature movie , Vacancy (2007), starring Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson, was released on April 20, 2007 getting sucess enough. His second American film, Armored (2009), was released in December 2009 and with American star-studded cast. Nimród Antal was hired for ¨Armored¨because producers enjoyed Antal's earlier films ¨Kontroll¨ and ¨Vacancy¨ and subsequenly filming a nice sequel : ¨Predators¨. This remarkable and decent action film will appeal to thriller buffs and fans of the big stars appearing here and there. Well worth watching. So it's worth seeing , specially for the robbery sequences.

I have to admit that I am disappointed after seeing this movie. I had expected so much more from the trailers. The movie was absolutely horrible. It lacked a real story line and the acting was not exactly the best. Don't waste your time. The movie is not what the trailers lead you to think it is. I would have to say that I don't usually write anything about movies on IMDb (in fact this is my first one) but this movie was such a disappointment that I registered just to let people know not to waste their time or money. The story line is that of a heist that is to happen and it looks like it had potential to be good but the things that happen in the movie are a little far fetched to be believable. Watch another movie instead, maybe the inside man???

Just sort of like "Reservoir Dogs." I mean, it's a heist film and things have gone wrong. Namely, one of the people end up getting cold feet when things start to go wrong. Unfortunately, how do you back out of a heist when you're already in the middle of it? Watching one of the special features, one of the people talked about how the movie is like a freight train, starting off slow and building steam until it's rocking and rolling along. Good analogy. The problem is, the first thirty minutes are about as exciting as watching a big, heavy freight train leaving... slow and plodding. There's only character development for two main characters with a little bit extra thrown in for a minor (though pivotal) character.

If anything, the movie delivers the goods a bit too late. But if you stick with it, I think it's a rewarding film.

The idea (in an deserted industrial location, thieves working for a security company trying to force their way into an armored truck with a good guy inside) reminds me of a 1986 french Canadian thriller called "Pouvoir intime" (see reference below) :

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091785/

This Quebec-made movie was co-written and directed by Emmy Award winner & nominee Yves Simoneau - Bury my heart at Wounded Knee (2007).

Maybe the makers of "Armored" never heard of this movie, but I just thought it would be fair to mention that this idea has been explored before.

Story progresses at a good pace and there are a few twists in the plot albeit a bit obvious but entertaining none the less.