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Honest Thief sees Liam Neeson (The Commuter) kicking bottom, once again, in an action role, even at his tender age of 68.
He plays Tom, a former bank robber but is using his particular set of skills to go straight and return the $9m he stole over the years, only to be taken advantage of by dodgy FBI agents, which may or may not include Agents Nivens (Jai Courtney – Terminator Genisys) and Baker (Robert Patrick – Terminator 2: Judgement Day), but only one of them starred in a decent Terminator movie.
Before long, he’s dating Annie (Kate Walsh – Emily In Paris) and asking her to move in with him, so it’s going all soppy that’s made him go soft, and want to throw away his ill-gotten millions in return for a deal of a maximum of two years in jail.
He has legitimate reasons for being an ‘honest thief’, as he explains along the way. Plus, he’s ex-army explosives expert, so here’s hoping for some explosions. Well, don’t expect too many fireworks and there’s certainly no expense spent on the ‘fire’ CGI, unless the version I saw wasn’t a finished print, but then I’ve seen enough films to realise that what I saw is most likely the finished version, so it’s clearly a low-budget affair.
Honest Thief is definitely standard fare in the alleged action stakes. Every time someone takes a corner on a main road, they skate round it at speed, and there’s a scene where Neeson and another man fall out of a high-up window onto the ground, and they’re both fine. On the day I watched this, I had to bend down in order to do a job around the house, and damn, did that hurt! How does he manage it! 😀
Overall, this is watchable, but forgettable. The only major cinemas open at the moment seem to be Vue and Odeon, and a basic ticket will be around £5-6. I wouldn’t pay any more than that, and certainly not the extra cash for an IMAX ticket because it wasn’t shot with IMAX cameras – But then precious few films on those screens are. Okay, if you have a spare $9m in unmarked cash, then splash out…
Also, it would be nice if someone in Hollywood wrote a female role where they weren’t just a complete wet blanket. Give them some balls!
Honest Thief is in cinemas from Friday October 23rd, but is not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 99 minutes
Release date: October 23rd 2020
Studio: Signature Entertainment
Format: 2.39:1 (ARRIRAW)
Rating: 5/10
Director: Mark Williams
Producers: Craig Chapman, Charlie Dorfman, Tai Duncan, Jonah Loop, Myles Nestel, Mark Williams
Screenplay: Steve Allrich, Mark Williams
Music: Mark Isham
Cast:
Tom: Liam Neeson
Annie: Kate Walsh
Agent Nivens: Jai Courtney
Agent Meyers: Jeffrey Donovan
Agent Hall: Anthony Ramos
Agent Sam Baker: Robert Patrick
Boss Mike: Birol Tarkan Yildiz
Himself: Tazzie the dog
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.