Armored

"Armored" is so a guy movie. Dueling armored trucks? Bloody gunshot wounds? Exploding money? If that doesn't get the lizard part of your brain excited, then stay away. Armored is a fast paced action thriller that gives you a lot of action and even provides a few surprising twists. It is a story of a group of armored truck guards that have concocted a plan to steal 42 million dollars that they were supposed to transport by simply stashing the money somewhere and then state they were robbed.  There plan though hinges on the sixth member of the crew Ty, an Iraqi war veteran that just joined the crew. After being promised that no one would be hurt he reluctantly agrees to take part. Obviously, from the moment that Ty is promised that no one will be hurt everyone knows that the plan will not go as planned. Although it is able to throw in a few surprises that make the movie not predictable at any point.

By simply looking at the great cast, I expected some stellar performances, unfortunately it did not live up to that expectation. While this movie has its typical action explosions it does not have the action expected in an action movie, but has tense thrilling action. Unfortunately, the writing suffered and did not take advantage of the strong cast as the movie lacked any real depth.

The two great roles that really stood out was that of newcomer Columbus Short playing Ty/hero of the story who ends up having the moral and ethical compass society should have. He is countered with the antagonist Mike, played by Matt Dillon, who orchestrated the whole plan. Sharing so many scenes with such a well seasoned actor like  Dillon many could expect Short to be overshadowed, yet he holds his own and created a definite rooting for him to outsmart the "bad guys." While Dillon is able to take his character from charming to disappointed, onward to frustrated and finallyh to completely insane through the course of the movie due to his greed for a big payday.

Unfortunately, the movie did such a great job of building throughout the entire movie only to leave me a little disappointed with the ending that was rushed. While this is the first movie I have seen by director Nimrod Antal he brings a great passion to the action movie in such a old school pulled back way, that does not pull in CGI like most action flicks do, and goes simple with just great sharp cinematography.

While this movie did not have much depth, it was very important to remember that this is a guy movie! It is important to remember that these lack of depth movies are simply for enjoyment. Because of the enjoyment it gave me I am giving it two and a half buckets of popcorn out of five. Remember this is a movie that you need to not worry about thinking and you can just turn off that brain relax and enjoy!

-The Movie Man-