Tower Heist

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Myself

It's very hard to find a cinema open on christmas day in Perth. But with a bit of a commute I managed to see the one bit film opening tomorrow that I don't already have a ticket for.

So Brett Ratner's latest is a poor man's Oceans 11. It's aiming for that fun, mischievous heist but with a little extra quirk from the inexperienced characters. The result is crowd pleasing enough but completely lacking in charm, suspense and any significant humour.

The coolest thing about the film is the score by Christophe Beck. Not often you get themes in 7/8 and it give the film a bit of a 70's throwback feel.

Alan Alda is a bad guy! Oooo. Gabourey Sidibe desperately trying to show her oscar nom wasn't a fluke does a Jamaican accent! Ooooo. Other People! OOooooo.

A poorly used chess game metaphor results with a build up to the climax of the heist ending in the classic line delivery "Checkmate." Uhh. Yeah that happened.

If you lay out a plan and then it goes awry in the execution, the audience is in suspense. If you hide the plan and then reveal the smart twist at the end then the audience is thrilled. If you don't lay out a plan then when it goes wrong we don't care and when all the clever twists happen we don't believe it.

I liked the re-staging of the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. That looks like effort was made. The rest of the film is just ok. Glad this one's out of the way, I'm pumped for magical movie day tomorrow.