The Good Thief DVD with Nick Nolte, Ralph Fiennes, Jason Flemyng (R) +Movie Reviews

Neil Jordan is a master!

jupitergirl | NYC | 04/27/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In the Good Thief, Neil Jordan revisits some of his signature territory (down and out criminal type who dreams of something larger in a sea-side landscape) with a breezy, light-hearted spirit. Unlike Mona Lisa or the Crying Game (some of my favorite films), the main character doesn't have to swallow a bitter pill at the end. As a heroin-addict and master thief, Nick Nolte gives a tempered but not tortured performance. He's the man that all the male characters want to be & all the women want to be with (at least all the drug-addicted underage prostitutes and bar owners do!). And you start to understand why--it's great fun to watch Nolte's rumpled addict at the start (complete with a series of unfortunately-patterned leisure shirts), be seduced by his non-stop inventive storytelling and applaud him when, with luck regained, he grandstands an amazing night of gambling, impervious to the success or failure of his double heist that's being enacted at the same time. After seeing this movie and Affliction, I have to say Nolte's a great actor. People in the audience were clapping and laughing out loud when I saw it. The film is smart and incredibly fun to look at with stylish freeze-frames, fluid camera, beautifully colorful images. The soundtrack is terrific as well--reflects the multi-national cast and setting.One caveat: I did have to see the film twice to understand all the dialogue which is delivered in throw-away fashion by the mostly European cast; however, second viewing allowed me to appreciate how cleverly the plot and characters are constructed. As another reviewer mentioned, all character development has some important pay-off (while also delivering imaginative portraits from this melting-pot Mediterranean underworld). This isn't McGyver--really the point of this heist movie isn't the mechanics of how the caper goes down, but the enjoyable characters who you follow through the story. Highly recommended!"

Nolte le Flambeur

MICHAEL ACUNA | Southern California United States | 04/11/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Neil Jordan is a master storyteller and filmmaker and also the director of the new Nick Nolte film, "The Good Thief." Nolte plays Bob Montagnet (montaigne): a beat up, past his prime, drug addled, seemingly out of it, former big time thief faced with the prospect and challenge of his final, once in a lifetime heist.
Nick Nolte, craggy-faced, whiskey voiced and dripping with charisma plays Bob like it is his final performance ever: his every word is delivered with deathbed earnestness... voluptuous with meaning.
Bob is a man who has come to the realization that his days as a thief and a romancer of women have just about come to an end. And because of this, when he is offered a chance in a lifetime to plan and execute the ultimate heist, he grasps at it with every fiber of his being for he knows there will be no more chances to make his mark .He is a man possessed with self-knowledge enough to know that this is his final chance to collect enough money to live out his days in luxury. Bob Montagnet could not, would not ever live without the finer things in life.
"The Good Thief" was shot in the south of France and in Monte Carlo by Michael Balhaus in gorgeous jewel tones to reflect the luxury of the world in which Bob revolves.
If there is a fault in this film it is in the re-dubbing: the voices do not always blend with the milieu in which they were shot.
"The Good Thief" is a thoughtful portrait of a man at the end of his career who must decide between fading into the sunset with a whimper or going out with a bang; even though that final bang might cost him his life.
As he showed in "The Crying Game" and "End of the Affair," Neil Jordan has an affinity for the disenfranchised, the disaffected, the outcasts of the world. And once again in "The Good Thief" he shows that he can relate and empathize with those who can only survive if they live on the fringes: steadfastly adhering to a code of ethics that they alone can explain and which most of us would be hard pressed to uphold or adhere to."

Nick Nolte Gives A Five Star Performance

Tucker Andersen | Wall Street | 05/20/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is an enjoyable heist film where the character development is the central element rather than the heist itself. If you want nonstop action and complicated plots, watch one of the big budget spectaculars with the marquee names; if you want a well told story then you should enjoy this movie. I highly recommend the initial Amazon reviews (posted in April) as accurately capturing the essence of this film: thus I will not repeat their detail here but strongly suggest that you read a few of them in order to understand the nature of this cinematic endeavor.Nick Nolte is Bob, a burned out heroin addict and former master thief who is recruited to mastermind a Monte Carlo casino heist. Tchecky Karo is Roger, a policeman who is his nemesis and is convinced that there is something being plotted. Nick's sidekick Paolo and a Bosnian prostitute named Anne who is befriended by Nick are the other main characters in a very engaging cast with several of the minor parts adding enjoyable twists to the story. There is the usual misdirection, just the right mix of humorous interludes and enough plot developments to keep the viewer's interest despite the slow pace of the story. The cinematography is excellent and definitely helps the story feel authentic.My only major reservation is mentioned in jupitergirl's review but deserves emphasis. Both my wife and I found that the dialogue was often hard to understand, especially early in the film until we became accustomed to the accents, inflections, and cadences of the various actors (most of whom with the exception of Nolte were European and unfamiliar to us). In fact our unfamiliarity with the actors also meant that it took us a while to sort out the characters and their roles since they were introduced casually throughout the early part of the film.This is a well constructed and enjoyable movie, but given the slow pace at which it proceeds you should plan to see it when you just want to relax and see a story gradually unfold. The conclusion is really wonderful, both for its cleverness and sense of irony; it nicely tied together all the storylines. The caper was fun; the film was a pleasurable experience"

A smart and sexy heist film

Jason Cheng | Catonsville, MD | 04/20/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A remake of Jean Pierre Melville's Bob Le Flambeur, The Good Thief tells the tale of Bob Montagnet, a gambling as well as a heroin addict who is down in his luck. As an avid art lover, he recently discover that the new owner of the Monte Carlo at the French Riviera has a sizeable collection of priceless pieces, and is determine to pull that one spectacular job in which no one else can rival. Assembling the right group of people and concocting a plan within a plan, the line between truths and lies becomes increasingly blurry as Bob attempts to outwit the pesky policeman following his every movement. Will fortune smiles down on him, or will he be dealt another loser hand?Bob is a skilled thief and a master storyteller, from how his parents first met to the accounts of his own life, no two versions are ever the same. It is hard to pinpoint the exact reason, but Nick Nolte's portrayal of Bob appears to be almost effortless. The man's struggle with a drug habit, the desolated look and his stubborn refusal to be beaten. Nolte was able to relate all of these feelings on the screen convincingly. Tcheky Karyo plays his nemesis Roger, a French cop who is both a friend, as well as an enemy due to their occupational differences. Their cat and mouse relationship provided many of the humorous moments in the movie. Newcomer Nutsa Kukhianidze held her own opposite of Nolte as the seductive prostitute Anne. Her acting is subtle, confident, and likeable. Definitely someone to keep an eye out for in the future. The rest of the cast is made up of Said Taghmaoui as Paulo and Gerard Darmon as Raoul, Bob's good friends and associates in the business.Rather than falling back on flashy action or dramatic car chases to tell the story, award-winning director Neil Jordan chose to concentrate on having his characters do all the work for him. The Good Thief is a rare instance where the development of these roles take precedence, and the picture benefits greatly because of it. The finely woven plot consists of numerous twists and turns common to caper films; fortunately, they are kept fresh by the smart writing along with the solid acting all around. You may not be able to follow everything that is going on, but you can be sure that there isn't a dull moment. Cinematography by Chris Menges is stunning. The contrast between the glamorous Riviera and the squalid but exotic underworld is remarkable.Sexy and stylish, The Good Thief is one of the best heist films I have seen in years. Nick Nolte delivers an outstanding performance in a part that seems to be tailored especially for him. An intriguing and an unpredictable plot, the witty dialogues, combined with a strong focus on the lead characters made this an immensely enjoyable experience. Admittedly the movie was hard for me to get into at first, but once you were drawn in, it does not let you go until the very last scene. While The Good Thief does not have the same star power as the highly successful Ocean's Eleven, don't let that stop you from checking it out."

Flashier but not better than its model

Rick Darby | 11/08/2003

(2 out of 5 stars)

"The Good Thief is a new take on Jean-Pierre Melville's celebrated 1955 film Bob le Flambeur. Comparisons are said to be odious, and the critic's first commandment is to review the film at hand, not compare it with something else. I've broken a few other commandments in my time, and I'm afraid this one is next. There is simply no way I can look at a remake of a film I'm fond of and not measure it against the original, so I won't try.Bob le Flambeur has been described as a precursor of the French New Wave films of Truffaut, Godard, Resnais et al.: the dialogue and editing were naturalistic rather than stage-play-like, the cinematography was a major element in the film rather than just a recording device. In that sense, B. le F. was a precognition not only of the French New Wave but of the style of most "serious" films today.Neil Jordan, the director and screenwriter, wants to keep our eyes glued to the screen. The cinematographer, Chris Menges, gives us gorgeous saturated colors. The streets of Nice and Monte Carlo glow in the Mediterranean sun. Neon lighting in nightclubs bathes their inhabitants in the hues of tropical fish. Visually, there's hardly a dull moment in The Good Thief, and the DVD transfer captures the vibrancy of the camera work to perfection.B. le F. -- set in Paris, not the south of France -- had its own ocular poetry, though, that didn't try to punch you out. Its black-and-white cinematography featured exteriors of Place Pigalle in the wan light of dawn, a bleak analogue to the lives of the gamblers and small-time crooks who were the movie's subjects.The Good Thief, like B. le F., is about a man who has something of a privileged background (both films are a little vague about this) who has wasted his life as a gambler. After taking several falls and doing prison time, Bob is now way past his prime with not much to show for it. Temptation knocks, in the form of a chance to lead a clever burglary at the casino in Monte Carlo.Jordan has gone all out to make the story "contemporary." Besides the hot visuals and fluid camera movement, he has added "now" touches and sub-themes: drug addiction, North African rai music (lots of Cheb Mami on the soundtrack), a trans-sexual character, Christian symbolism (besides Bob, the title refers to the thief who was crucified next to Jesus), 12-step programs, art forgery, and of course lots of whiz-bang technology for the burglary scenes. Not only is most of this flapdoodle uninteresting in itself; worse, it serves as a diversion from the character study that the original was and The Good Thief imagines itself to be. That's a shame, because some of the casting is strong. Tcheky Karyo gives a compelling performance as the detective who is Bob's nemesis. The young actress Nutsa Kukhianidze, playing a too-old-for-her years waif who wanders into Bob's subterranean world and gets enmeshed in it, is much better than her counterpart in B. le F.But the portrayal of the central character (Nick Nolte) is about as wrong as it could be. An odious comparison is unavoidable. In Melville's film, Roger Duchesne captured our feelings and our imagination because he was a tragic figure in the classical sense -- a hero with a fatal flaw. Duchesne as Bob retained touches of elegance and gentility, as well as an inward quality. Nolte has been required by the script (and probably by his own acting tendencies as well) to keep showing us what a sorry loser he is. We watch him go through a drug withdrawal, let us in on what a scammer he is, show us such pure cynicism that we don't buy into the supposed repentence suggested by the movie's title. It's all spelled out for us; there's nothing left to draw us into the character. To take one example: in B. le F., when Bob goes on a winning streak in the casino, he hands the croupier a big tip. In The Good Thief, he does the same but announces to his companion that it's one of his Rules for High-stakes Gambling: "Always tip the croupier."Here's one of my rules for moviemaking: "Don't just give us something to watch. Let us meet your characters half-way." I'm sure Jordan studied Melville's film carefully, but that's one element he seems to have missed."

Search - The Good Thief on DVD

Movie Details

Similar Movies

Similarly Requested DVDs

Member Movie Reviews

Movie Reviews