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| Edited By: Bryan Durham |Source: DNA |Updated: Mar 18, 2016, 08:21 PM IST
Film: Bus 657 (aka Heist)
Director: Scott Mann
Cast: Robert DeNiro, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Kate Bosworth, Dave Bautista, Gina Carano, Morris Chestnut
Rating: **1/2
What's a father to do when his daughter's life is on the line? When she needs life-saving surgery and his boss, a rich casino owner, can't spare some change to help him out? Rob him, obviously. Find some like-minded people to help him, or in this film's case, let them find him. Let push come to shove, plan the heist and escape. Everybody involved knows how to beat the system.
Well, they do complete the heist, but are chased and barely escape with their lives by hijacking a bus. Unfortunately for them, a cop is on their trail and a hijack alert is sent out. With the law in pursuit and dirty money in the bags, they're closed in, when their boss sends a cop on his payroll after them. Who blinks first and who draws first? Does anyone get out alive?
You have to give it to Jeffrey Dean Morgan. The man's played a dad so often, he can do it in his sleep and still play the role convincingly. DeNiro plays the ageing casino boss well in a way only he can. Of course, the script is weak, but you need an artist of his calibre to see you through. He's deliciously malicious as Francis 'The Pope' Silva.
Across the board, one has MMA fighter Gina Carano who looks the part of a confused cop. She wears her naivete pretty well. Chestnut is one-dimensional with his histrionics and serves a solitary purpose: to elucidate what a tool—pun intended—his character is. Dave Bautista comes off intimidating, and while he's good as a villain, he's still got a long way to go.
We've been in this 'situations' in previous films of the genre. We know how it's going to end. That's never a good thing. What starts out promisingly, ends up quite middling. It's a lazily made film. It might work in the matinee slot. But as a thriller feature, it could have done so much better! Disappointed.
