Liam Neeson has been in the spotlight for many decades and has played a vast array of roles throughout the years. For the last 10 or so, it seems Neeson appears in the same two genres of film; romance or action. Honest Thief takes both of these and puts them in a blender, pouring out an interesting concoction that is a little hard to swallow.
Neeson stars as Tom, ex-marine turned professional bank robber who decides to give it all up after meeting Annie (Kate Walsh) and falling madly in love. Tom tries to hand himself in to the FBI and return the stolen loot, but is brushed off after several false confessions from others that have left the FBI in doubt.
Tom’s case is then handed over to Agents Nivens (Jai Courtney) and Hall (Anthony Ramos) who follow up on the case, and end up stealing the money and framing Tom for murder. From here it descends into the typical Liam Neeson action revenge film, Tom must catch the crooked agents, clear his name and save Annie.
Neeson’s performance in this film isn’t anything new or special, just your usually tough guy schtick, but showing his age a little, which is good. To me the standouts of the film were Jai Courtney and Anthony Ramos. The pair have excellent chemistry together on-screen, and the struggle between right and wrong with the two is fantastic. Courtney as Nivens slips into the corruption so quickly and easily, but Ramos‘ character Hall struggles with the decision and wants no part of it, yet still follows along due to his loyalty to his partner.
The romantic aspects of the film between Tom and Annie are watered down and not at all well developed. We see a bit of how they meet, a few dates and a few more tidbits in between of their relationship, but this could have been a little more fleshed out with development of the characters to make you really feel for them.
Overall, Honest Thief isn’t a bad film, but it isn’t great either. Pretty much just your run of the mill action with some love and revenge sprinkled in. It is fun and full of great action sequences with the occasional car chase, however, the plot just fell flat and left me wanting a little more.