The Score (2001) Reviewed by Eugene Novikov http://www.ultimate-movie.com/
"Don't leave me on the sidelines when it comes time to collect, don't do it!"
Starring Robert De Niro, Edward Norton, Marlon Brando, Angela Bassett. Directed by Frank Oz. Rated R.
Just a few weeks ago, I lamented that Swordfish didn't have the humility to simply be a good heist movie. The Score is like that film's twin, sans computers, impromptu blow jobs and Travolta with a goatee. Only this one is a good heist movie, flawed but thoroughly competent, with an amazing cast and precise, almost Mametian dialogue. Films like these are woefully hard to find: though it has irony a-plenty, it doesn't have any of the post-modern "edge" that audiences seem to dig. The heist here seems to be just like any other.
...except that it's set in Montreal. Not just filmed in Montreal, set in Montreal. And why not? It's such a nice city that it's a shame to see it rampaged by thieves, which is why the protagonist of The Score, professional thief Nick Wells (Robert De Niro) has a policy: never do jobs in your hometown. It never leads to anything good. This is part of the reason for his skepticism when his old friend Max (Marlon Brando) approaches him with a proposition to rob the Montreal Customs House; the other part is his girlfriend (Angela Bassett), who has promised to move in with him if he'll only retire.
After some prodding, of course, Nick agrees to One Last Heist, which teams him with an intelligent and ambitious budding criminal Jack (Edward Norton), who has infiltrated the Customs House posing as a retarded janitor. The target is a priceless scepter that was once owned by a royal family and later intercepted by customs when someone tried to hide it inside of a piano leg. The security around it is tight but nothing insurmountable, and Jack knows the building like the back of his hand. But Nick, a seasoned veteran, likes to work slowly and exclusively on his terms, making Jack agree that what he says, goes.
Before the end credits roll, loyalties are tested, and people are crossed, double-crossed and crossed again (though I don't think anyone gets killed, which is amazing for a modern actioner). The reason to watch The Score, though, isn't the plot, which is about as simple as it gets (thieves find target, thieves plan heist, thieves pull heist), but the interplay between the three actors at its forefront.
No actor radiates a fierce, dangerous intelligence as well as Ed Norton, and this ability has landed him some of the most enviably challenging roles Hollywood had to offer. His Jack isn't as risque as the "Narrator" in Fight Club, but his wavering is-he-a-villain-or-isn't-he status gives Norton plenty of opportunities to toy with the audience. More than anything, it resembles his debut role in Primal Fear, which also hid a smart, scheming criminal under the guise of mental retardation.
The climax is a great payoff for what was a slow, if interesting, first two acts, but I didn't much like the ending, which is a little too pat and predictable for my tastes. I don't want to give away too much, but the final phone-conversation "shocker" isn't much of a shocker at all. Still, I prefer The Score's unpretentious conclusion to Swordfish's, which apparently thought that if it confused us enough, we'd praise it to pretend that we understood it. It's a fitting end to a solid, unremarkable film.
Grade: B
Up Next: Jurassic Park III
©2001 Eugene Novikov
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