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The Score
***1/2
Cinema Releases - September 28, 2001
Rated on a 4-star scale. Certificate 15. 123 minutes. Directed
by Frank Oz. Written by Lem Dobbs, Kario Salem, Scott Marshall Smith; from
a story by Daniel E. Taylor, Kario Salem. Starring Robert De Niro, Edward
Norton, Marlon Brando, Angela Bassett, Paul Soles.
If you're a real man, or any kind of real movie
lover, you've gotta love heist pictures. The opportunity, the blueprints
and maps, the inspection of the location. The planning, the mission, the
crisis, the solution, the consequences. Ah, such good stuff.
"The Score" is a beautifully made
entry in the genre, featuring all of the above, expertly presented. We also
get the guy who swears that this will be his last job, the trusty old friend
in the business and the hot dame on the sidelines. Accompanying them is a
young crook who provides them with their way into the customs house they
plan to rob. He is played by Edward Norton, and Robert De Niro and Marlon
Brando star as his elders.
It's rare to see Brando onscreen at all these
days; it's well known that he is a recluse with a troubled personal life,
and that he thinks acting is an ignoble profession. Never in recent years
have we seen him in an ensemble as good as this. Norton, De Niro and Brando
represent the finest male acting talent of the past three
generations.
The cast is great, the Montreal locations are
beautiful (especially the jazz café owned by the De Niro character)
and the heist plot is carried out with tautness and intelligence. "The Score"
is, quite simply, a terrific actors' piece, a terrific crime movie and a
terrific thriller. It unfolds with wonderful little details, right down to
the plot twists of the ending, which are resolved in a way that stays attentive
to the personalities of the characters and has a nice clever
wit.
COPYRIGHT©
2001 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
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