Honest Thief (2020) Review

With the cinemas finally reopening in the UK it means some films that came out around October are now being shown and Honest Thief is one of those and I saw it today so here is my review for it. The premise of the film sees a former Bank robber attempt to turn himself in, when he is caught up in a plot involving the police department. 

Main Character 

Liam Neeson plays the main character here and I mean what is there to say other then that ever since he played Brian Mills in the first Taken he has been doing this role and he could do it in his sleep. He is functional and will always have a paycheck but there is nothing new or exciting here, he phones it in and does the minimum which is good enough for only an okay character. 

Supporting Characters

Kate Walsh plays his love interest and I thought they actually had pretty decent and likeable chemistry together, I mean her character has nothing too her but I thought she did a fine job with what she was given. Jai Courtenay is an actor who has an interesting career and I actually think he does a decent job here, he is an egotistical bad guy but he plays it pretty well and he is a guy you just won't like which means he is playing the role well. But the rest of the cast offer nothing, the great Robert Patrick is completely wasted and given nothing to so which makes you wonder why even bother getting him here for this role. Jeffery Donovan plays a cop and this guy was laughably bad, he is such a cliché and just does nothing here for anybody to care about, not even his mum. 

Story 

The story though did very little for me, there is not a unique and new bone in this film's body and it needs to be called out for that. I didn't really believe in Neeson's character and his backstory and the film does nothing to interest you and make you care. The motivations are paper thin and despite some decent performances it is hampered by a weak plot and one that ends with pretty much no resolution to it. 

Script

The script is also very generic and does nothing to it and is probably the biggest thing to blame for the lack of interest given to this film. Again the actors do a better job with pretty poor material and similar to Neeson the people writing these films have an easy job and don't do anything to try and innovate and become interesting. 

Style 

The film has some decent action sequences and chase scenes that at least kept my attention for a little bit more then the rest of the film but there isn't enough. This is a criticism I have with quite a few of these films of Neeson that it takes way too long to actually get to the action and takes ages to build and by the time you get to the action you just don't care. 

Overall

Overall, this is a poor lazy film that will rank low on these Neeson action films for sure. Unless you are a die hard fan of Liam Neeson avoid this film and do something else for 90 mins. 

Rating - 3/10