The Above-Average “The Honest Thief” (2020) Isn’t so Easy to Pull Off (Part I of II)

(6/10)

It’s not easy to make a good film. It’s especially difficult to make a good, mindless film.

And no genre is more mindless than action.

The formula for an action flick is simple. There’s a good guy (or guys or gals). There’s a lead bad guy. There are bunch of other bad guys who collectively have a plan to wreck havoc. These bad guys get pretty far in their plan before the good guy(s) beat the bad guys, usually through a lot of explosions and bullets, and the movie ultimately ends on a happy note.

Action movies are as simple as they are predictable, and therein lies the challenge. Since the audience more or less knows how the movies will play out, what keeps the audience entertained?

The classic action films, the ones that spawn a series, have the it factor. Maybe it’s an iconic hero who’s a killing machine (Rambo), or an unforgettable villain like Hans Gruber (Die Hard), or a buddy cop with great chemistry (Lethal Weapon), or just perfection in mastering a single theme (Taken).

These special films are destined to be remembered decades after their release. Most aren’t lucky enough to achieve that distinction, but that’s ok because there’s a huge range in quality falling somewhere between unforgettable classic and dreadful train-wreck, a range where films are at least worth the price of admissions.

Which brings me to “The Honest Thief” (2020).

Here’s a movie that will certainly not be included in the list of Year’s Best. In fact, about the only list this movie will make is the list of forgettable films in Liam Neeson’s post-“Taken” career that tries to cash in on his late fame as an action star.

But it’s not a bad film.

Truth be told, there’s nothing particularly remarkable about this film, except perhaps in some creativity in the set-up.

(Continues to Part II)