Movie audiences go to see Liam Neeson get revenge the way they once went to see John Wayne ride a horse or Carmen Miranda dance with fruit on her head; the movie itself could be great or mediocre, but there’s that satisfaction of watching a movie star do the exact thing that you want and expect them to do. As “solidly senior Liam Neeson kicks ass” vehicles go, “Honest Thief” falls firmly in the middle, nowhere near the heights of “Taken” but well above the depths of “Taken 3.”
Neeson, as a bank robber trying to turn himself in, is the above-the-title draw here, but “Honest Thief” ultimately belongs to Jai Courtney as a crooked FBI agent who complicates the title character’s confession by attempting to steal the money and kill anyone who gets in his way.
One in a series of handsome character actors that Hollywood has unsuccessfully attempted to mold into a generic leading man, Courtney reminds audiences here that he’s most effective when allowed to play a villain who revels in his own misdeeds, even if the movie is nothing special. (See also: “Jack Reacher.”) For a film actor, that’s a pretty good area of expertise to have.
Neeson stars as Tom, known to the authorities as the “In and Out Bandit” for his skill in robbing small-town banks and smoothly covering his tracks. After a successful job, Tom rents a locker at a Boston storage facility, where he’s immediately smitten with clerk Annie (Kate Walsh), a grad student. A year later, Tom is ready to move in with Annie, but he doesn’t want his criminal past eating away at his conscience. So he approaches FBI agent Sam (Robert Patrick) with a deal: A full confession and the return of every cent stolen in exchange for two-years (and visitation rights) in a minimum-security jail within an hour of Boston.
Since a dozen or so people have already claimed to be the In and Out Bandit, Sam sends agents Nivens (Courtney) and Hall (Anthony Ramos, “Hamilton”) to investigate. Tom gives them the key to his storage locker, which is a massive miscalculation since, naturally, Nivens gets sticky fingers with the millions of dollars stashed there, and talks Hall into joining him in stealing the evidence. The two agents return to kill Tom, but when Sam shows up, Nivens shoots him instead, making Tom a fugitive from the Feds. And when Annie gets roughed up by the two rogue agents and left for dead, well — now it’s personal.
To the film’s credit, Annie isn’t just here to suffer as a plot motivator. Walsh’s chemistry with Neeson makes her not only a good partner for him as he endeavors to prove his innocence, but she also makes the audience believe that Tom would sacrifice two years to ensure that the two of them could have a life together.
Also along for the ride is Jeffrey Donovan, as Sam’s partner, who gets saddled with a running gag about his ex-wife’s adorable little doggy that is pure Screenwriting 101 but at least gives the overqualified actor something to do with a role that’s mostly about giving and getting exposition.
Director Mark Williams (a producer on “Ozark”), who co-wrote with Steve Allrich (“Bad Karma”), never really ratchets up the suspense, nor does he create particularly memorable set pieces, the kind that makes films like “Non-Stop” or “Unknown” stand out among Neeson’s entertaining-but-ridiculous genre entries. Still, “Honest Thief” moves along at a good clip — editor Michael P. Shawver (“Black Panther”) never lets the pace lag — and cinematographer Shelly Johnson (“Greyhound”) finds some visual grace notes, whether it’s a triangle of police cars at a bomb site or Neeson and Walsh hiding in a car and bathed in the red glow of Nivens’ brake lights.
There’s not much to “Honest Thief,” but fans of Liam Neeson giving the kind of cool, committed performance he brings to his genre work will take pleasure in the actor once again sticking it to the bad guys. Here’s hoping that Walsh and Courtney (and Donovan, for that matter) get a career boost for giving so much to a movie that never bothers to give back very much to them.
9 Essential Alfred Hitchcock Movies to Watch on Peacock, From 'Psycho' to 'Vertigo' (Photos)
Good evening. Master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock was born on Friday the 13th back in August 1899, and while the great filmmaker's movies and his TV shows have always been widely available for aspiring film students and classic movie lovers, Peacock has lumped many of his classics in one place. There are 14 of the director's films now available to stream through NBCUniversal's ad-supported service. The trick with Hitchcock is, even writing a top 10 list of the director's best movies would be leaving off some great ones. So below is a list of his essential titles that best define his style and penchant for thrills, and check out a teaser video for all the titles here.
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"Shadow of a Doubt" (1943) -
Peacock doesn't have any of Hitchcock's early films before he left Britain and his movies started getting Oscar buzz, but "Shadow of a Doubt" was one of his first fully American movies, with a cast including Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten that Hitchcock even described as his favorite film he made. A man and his niece, both named Charlie, meet and develop an instant bond until she realizes her uncle isn't what he seems. It's a film about being removed from the world you thought you knew and how everything looks grimmer from outside your protective bubble.
Universal Pictures
"Rope" (1948) -
"Rope" is an early example of an entire film shown in a single, unbroken take. The story involves two people who murder a man, hide his body in a trunk in the center of a room and then host a dinner party surrounding it to prove they've committed the perfect crime. Hitchcock felt the suspense would be lost if the camera cut away, so he wrote sections of the movie in chunks to correspond to the size of a reel of film and then would hide the edit as the camera passed behind a chair or person's back. "Rope" remains one of Hitchcock's most fascinating experiments, even if he once said that the experiment "didn't work."
Warner Bros.
"Rear Window" (1954) -
James Stewart plays a photographer confined to his apartment and wheelchair after suffering an injury when he spies something suspicious from his neighbor's window and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder. It's a tense examination of voyeurism and how our suspicions can get the better of us. But it's also one of Hitchcock's most emotional films for the tiny details about how the lonely people Stewart watches go about their day, and it's a great example of how Hitchcock uses editing and simple clues to drive our imaginations wild.
Paramount Pictures
"The Trouble With Harry" (1955) -
As the tagline goes, the trouble with Harry is that he's dead, and no one can seem to figure out what to do with his body. "The Trouble With Harry" is Hitchcock's one straight comedy, a blend of screwball and deadpan, offbeat humor in which people are lustful, clueless or as suspicious as in any Hitchcock movie, but with a very different tone. The film also features Jerry Mathers before he was in "Leave it to Beaver" and Shirley MacLaine in her first film role.
Paramount Pictures
"The Man Who Knew Too Much" (1956) -
Hitchcock's greatest trope was of stories about innocent men wrongly accused and roped into something greater. And he told that story not once, but twice in "The Man Who Knew Too Much," which he remade from his 1934 film as a more seasoned director with bigger stars and a bigger budget in 1956. Peacock only has the remake, but it's as good of a place to start with Hitchcock as any, as it also features Doris Day's performance of the Oscar-winning song "Que Sera, Sera."
Paramount Pictures
"Vertigo" (1958) -
"Vertigo" back in 2012 snatched the title away from "Citizen Kane" as the best movie of all time in a famous critics poll, and it's in part because his surreal, psychological and thrilling head trip about two broken hearts combines all of the attributes that made Hitchcock's films special. His movies often featured icy, blonde women who men were obsessed with, and the story of James Stewart's obsession with Kim Novak in "Vertigo" most closely resembles Hitchcock's own desires and controlling qualities as a director.
Paramount Pictures
"Psycho" (1960) -
Hitchcock broke so many norms with "Psycho" that helped to change Hollywood movies forever. He proved you could get rid of the film's top-billed star Janet Leigh less than halfway into the movie, he defied censorship standards by showing characters using a toilet on screen, and he shocked audiences with a fiendish twist, even putting in place a rule that prevented late entrants into a screening. But above all, he proved that with sinister lighting, framing and an anxiety-inducing score by Bernard Hermann alone, you can still make a terrifying masterpiece.
Universal Pictures
"The Birds" (1963) - "The Birds" was an early precursor for horror films like "Jaws" for its special effects and its economical thrills, with Hitchcock replacing a traditional score with bird sound effects that were even more chilling. But the film has some complex themes about love, sexuality and violence even if it seems like just a movie about killer birds.
Universal Pictures
"Frenzy" (1972) -
Hitchcock had lost some of his mojo by the '70s when auteur directors were making hyper-violent, kinetic and artful statements of movies that did away with the Old Hollywood thriller staples. But "Frenzy" is Hitchcock returning to form with a murder mystery of another innocent man accused, and it's a late-career gem that's also easily his most violent film about a serial killer responsible for a series of "necktie murders."
Universal Pictures
All of these films don't even scratch the surface of Hitchcock's best. Peacock also currently has "Saboteur," "Marnie," "Family Plot," "Torn Curtain" and "Topaz" available for streaming, as well as his shows "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and "Alfred Hitchcock Hour." And some of his other classics are available across other streaming services, including "North By Northwest" (HBO Max), "To Catch a Thief" (Amazon Prime) or "Strangers on a Train" (DirecTV).
MGM
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14 of the master of suspense’s movies and two of his series are available on the ad-supported streaming service
Good evening. Master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock was born on Friday the 13th back in August 1899, and while the great filmmaker's movies and his TV shows have always been widely available for aspiring film students and classic movie lovers, Peacock has lumped many of his classics in one place. There are 14 of the director's films now available to stream through NBCUniversal's ad-supported service. The trick with Hitchcock is, even writing a top 10 list of the director's best movies would be leaving off some great ones. So below is a list of his essential titles that best define his style and penchant for thrills, and check out a teaser video for all the titles here.
Getty Images
Universal Pictures
