FORMAT: DVD
Luke Perry and Ice-T star in this moderately entertaining crime thriller from writer/director Kurt Voss, the man who was also responsible for the excellent Poison Ivy: The New Seduction.
Ice-T stars as a thief named “C-Note”, who along with his crew, robs an armored car and takes office worker Lucy (Amy Locane) hostage. They make the mistake of hiding out in a warehouse where a homeless musician named Moe (Richmond Arquette) and his junkie brother Jack (Perry) are squatting. The brothers then get the less than brilliant idea to rip off the thieves, even though they themselves are far from criminal masterminds. Naturally, double and triple crosses ensue on both sides.
As the title suggests, The Heist is a fairly generic crime picture. It’s sort of like a variation on Trespass which also starred Ice-T, except with money instead of gold. It’s a lean, mean, meat and potatoes thriller that benefits from a claustrophobic setting as it takes place mainly in one location. If the script had another draft, or if the action was choreographed a tad better, we might’ve been talking *** here. As it is, it’s close, but no cigar.
Sure, it’s by the numbers, but The Heist is well-paced, and the cast is solid. Perry is amusingly cast against type as the twitchy, opportunistic junkie. He probably had a lot of fun attempting to shed his Beverly Hills 90210 image. Ice-T on the other hand has no qualms playing up his typical Ice-T screen persona as he is arrogant, authoritative, and badass. He also gets a couple of funny lines. When he sees the armored car for the first time, he says, “This is an ATM… and we’re gonna make a withdrawal!” Locane does what she can with her underwritten hostage part and Married with Children’s David Faustino also appears in a supporting role as a member of a rival crew. I never thought I’d live to see the day when Bud Bundy and Ice-T got into a Mexican standoff, but here we are.
AKA: Shot Down.
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