Armored

There are no bad guys, just good people making poor choices.

"A rmored" is a movie worth watching just for Columbus Short’s performance. Although billed as an action film, "Armored" is unquestionably a study of the human character. Starring Matt Dillon (Crash), Jean Reno ("La Femme Nikita," "Couples Retreat"), Lawrence Fishburne ("CSI," "Matrix"), and Columbus Short ("The Losers"), portray a highly trusted team of security guards. As a member of Eagle security, they are charged with the delivery of millions of dollars of cash from the U.S. Reserve Bank to the local branch of various banks, decide to take 42 million dollars for themselves, and fake a hijack. When the plan goes wrong, each man will need to decide what kind of person he is. Most importantly, what kind of men do they want to be? Action packed, suspenseful, "Armored" is ultimately psychological film, and what motivates men to make the choices that they do. Written by James V. Simpson, "Armored" is his homage to heist film that have come before.

Directed by Nimród Antal, "Armored" is simply a story of a bank heist gone wrong. The opening of the film is a staged heist to celebrate rookie Ty Hackett's end of his probation as a new Armored security guard. At a bar celebrating Hackett's promotion from rookie to full guard with Eagle Shield security service, the members tell Hackett 'war stories' of famous heists of days gone by. The best and final story is about a heist in 1988 where the guards in that heist were ambushed and forced to hand over the cash. The assailants were never caught, and the money never found. Rookie security guard Ty Hackett (Columbus Short), an Iraq war veteran who is fighting the bank from foreclosure, discusses his situations with his go father, mentor, and friend of his father, Mike Cochrone (Dillon). Matt Dillon, in the familiar role of hardworking everyman, plans the heist along with fellow guards, Reno, Fishburne, and the rest of their team. Lawrence Fishburne plays the over zealous, gun toting, trigger-happy security guard named Baines. Quiet, with the reserved confidence of skilled security veteran, Jean Reno plays Quinn, a dependable member of the team. The rest of the actors portray unremarkable characters that have their moments. Armored’s main conflict is between Ty and his best friend, Mike. Ty initially turns down the idea of heisting 40 million dollars in a fake heist, but after coming home to find a Child Protection Services woman at his home and ready to take his 16-year-old brother from his custody, Hackett agrees to go along with the heist. The heist goes well until the thieves with the 40 million split in two Armored cars arrive at an abandoned warehouse. While transferring the money to a hiding place in the warehouse, the group discovers that they are not alone. Hiding in the warehouse, is a homeless guy, seeking shelter from the L.A. heat, tries to escape. Not wanting any witnesses Baines shoots the man, wounding him. Hackett's moral fiber returns, and figuring that the robbery has gone too far, as and his friend, and mentor Mike promised him that no one gets hurt, finishes off the homeless man. Hackett locks himself in the Armored car, and although he knows that, they are in a cell phone, and radio dead zone hopes to hold out until the group is over due with the security company. "Armored" is a battle of wills between right and wrong.

I honestly had a hard time writing this review. Not because, this is an awful film, quite the contrary this film is well made, the story is straight forward, and the acting is reasonable, and in other words, unremarkable. The film's shining moments come, neither from the action scenes nor from explosions, but they come from the fine acting by Columbus Short as Ty Hackett. As each member of this impromptu group of thieves' elaborately simple plan unravels, each actor has their moment to show some character development; however, those moments are short and few. The concept that the writers and director wanted to get across was that there are no bad guys in this movie, just good people making poor choices. That is where I believe Armored is the weakest. With no truly admirable characters to go up against truly villainous characters then the story is essentially flawed and weak. Less than 1.5 hours, Armored is worth watching only for Columbus Short's performance.

Movie Data

Genre:  Crime, Thriller
Year:  2009
Staring: Matt Dillon,Jean Reno, Laurence Fishburne, Columbus Short
Director: Nimród Antal
Producer(s) Joshua Donen, Dan Farah, Sam Raimi
Writer: James V. Simpson
Rating: PG-13

Running Time: 88 minutes

Release Date: 12/2/2009

The Losers

Rambo meets Jim Rockford

I f you are in the mood for a deeply serious social commentary about the CIA and government corruption, also if you want Comic-Book Comedy about a group of delta force set of commandos is right up your alley. Brought to us by Producer Joel Silver, ("Lethal Weapon," "Predator," "The Matrix" movies), "The Losers" is an outrageous action packed buddy film with plenty of funny points to make the comic-book style appealing on many levels.

The plot is straightforward, about a group of black ops commandos led by Clay (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) on a mission to kill a Bolivian drug lord. Upon realizing that there is a group of children within the jungle compound, Clay halts the strike. Their CIA handler, Max (Jason Patric) orders in an air strike and now the group have just minutes to get the kids out and kill the bad guys. Now we meet Clay's team of highly skilled soldiers, Roque (Idris Elba) seemingly his second in command, Jensen (Chris Evans), Pooch (Columbus Short), and Cougar (Oscar Jaenada). Like the "A Team," each member has their own skill-set and personality. Columbus Short ("Death at a Funeral, "Armored") Pooch is the driver of the group and attaches a bobble headed Chihuahua to the dash of each of the vehicles he uses. Chris Evans ("Push," "Fantastic Four") as Jensen plays it over the top singing Journey's "Don't Stop Believing." Cougar, played by Spanish actor Oscar Jaenada is the only one of the group who doesn't talk much but is a wiz with a sniper rifle. Although he doesn't say much throughout the movie he rounds out Evan's over the top with quiet sureness. 

 After getting the kids to safety after Mr. Pooch's wild school bus ride through the jungle, and after loading the children onto a helicopter that is swiftly destroyed by the mysterious Max. With me so far? We have established the good guys and the bad guys now we have to establish the love interest. Realizing that they Max betrayed the group, they throw their dog tags into the burning wreckage. Now the former commandos settle down in Bolivia bidding their time until they can figure what to do with themselves. Enter Zoe Saldana as Aisha, the mysterious love interest who is willing to bankroll the groups return to the United Sates to exact revenge on Max for some unstated offence. By this time Clay, now in slacks, white shirt, and a worn jacket that he wears throughout the rest of the film is starting to remind me of Jim Rockford from the "Rockford Files." Jeffrey Dean Morgan plays Clay like Garner's Rockford getting beat up for a noble cause and getting the girl from time to time. On his first encounter with Aisha, Morgan and Saldana's fight-for-foreplay would have made Brad and Angelina proud. Working to defeat Jason Patric's megalomaniac Max, the group travels the world tracking him down. Patric plays his alter ego with all the panache of any decent comic book super villain.

 remember the day my dad took me to see the "The Wild Bunch." I was probably no more than 11 years old. I did not understand much of the story, but I did see characters that my dad identified with. Although there certainly was a lot of blood, guns, and action, films like "The Wild Bunch" or the "The Loser" stays with you because of characters, and the action. This experience gave me the understanding of what a formula film is, and The Losers is a formula movie. The opening comic book montage at the beginning of "The Losers," clearly reminds us that we arid going to see a comic book transfer to the big-screen. The producers set expectations for the audience pretty low, and not only lives up to that low expectation but surpasses it to some degree. The characters are thin but memorable and, the dialog is unassuming but not crude. The banter between the characters isn't Shakespeare, yet it is funny and relatable. Throughout the film, I heard the audiences laughing over the sound of my own chuckles. Director, Sylvain White makes sure we know where each location is with immense white location titles reminiscent of something out of a Quentin Tarantino flick. The music, other than Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" is not very memorable. The story, not particularly believable, but that's not the point of this movie. We go see films like this for the fun of it for the pyrotechnics and the action.

I am giving this movie points for the straightforward plot, no thinking involved. I am also giving points for fun characters, and lots of action. Do not mistake the rating as a representation of a quality film. The rating is purely for the enjoyment factor that this movie gives its audience. The bottom line is "The Losers" is a fun shoot-em up flick to take your significant other, forget about the crappy week you just had and enjoy a mindless romp around the world and have an enjoyable

Movie Data

Genre: Action, Adventure, War
Year:  2010
Staring:  Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana, Jason Patric,Chris Evans, Idris Elba, Columbus Short, Óscar Jaenada
Director:  Sylvain White
Producer(s) Joel Silver, Kerry Foster
Writer: Peter Berg & James Vanderbilt
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 97 minutes 
Release Date: 4/23/2010