Spoilers herein:
A ex-con safecracker (Christopher Walken) trying to live on the straight and narrow is enticed into doing one more job by people he may not be able to trust (a shady security guard, an Irish drifter, a little league coach). He cases the building where the robbery is to take place and meets a colorful lock expert (Tom Noonan in a characteristically excellent small performance) who helps him construct a mock-up of the safe. The job goes wrong, but the ex-con is bailed out in the end. Sound familiar? So we've seen this film dozens of times. It is then something of a miracle that "The Opportunists" works as well as it does.
Myles Connell's directorial debut is a relentlessly low-key, relatively low-budget, character driven neo-noir that satisfies because Connell never gives in to expectations and refuses to overwrite the characters. All the obligatory scenes are here; Walken visits an elderly relative whom he provides for; makes a mess of his legitimate business (auto-repair); is threatened by creditors; pleads (sort-of) with his girlfriend not to throw him out; practices on a mock-up safe while his partners watch, etc. In the hands of a lesser actor, this could all have been deeply mediocre, but Walken glides through this with the humble grace, and the quiet defiance of someone almost fatalistically detached from his own life and choices, but with a core of decency that we respond to without feeling manipulated. All the supporting players do a fine job, but this is Walken's picture, and Walken is a great actor, one of the greatest working today.
Watch how subtly Walken plays the early scenes where he refuses to take the job, and how consistently Connell has his actors play "emotional" scenes in a minor-key. Connell could have written "big" emotional scenes, could have given his characters dozens of one-liners, "zingers," but then he would have made "The Score" or "Heist." The Opportunists is better than either of these films, better too than "Ocean's Eleven." All these films tread similarly well-worn thematic paths, but The Opportunists aspires to the upper echelons of neo-noir drama thanks to smart, restrained direction and the presence of Walken.
A ex-con safecracker (Christopher Walken) trying to live on the straight and narrow is enticed into doing one more job by people he may not be able to trust (a shady security guard, an Irish drifter, a little league coach). He cases the building where the robbery is to take place and meets a colorful lock expert (Tom Noonan in a characteristically excellent small performance) who helps him construct a mock-up of the safe. The job goes wrong, but the ex-con is bailed out in the end. Sound familiar? So we've seen this film dozens of times. It is then something of a miracle that "The Opportunists" works as well as it does.
Myles Connell's directorial debut is a relentlessly low-key, relatively low-budget, character driven neo-noir that satisfies because Connell never gives in to expectations and refuses to overwrite the characters. All the obligatory scenes are here; Walken visits an elderly relative whom he provides for; makes a mess of his legitimate business (auto-repair); is threatened by creditors; pleads (sort-of) with his girlfriend not to throw him out; practices on a mock-up safe while his partners watch, etc. In the hands of a lesser actor, this could all have been deeply mediocre, but Walken glides through this with the humble grace, and the quiet defiance of someone almost fatalistically detached from his own life and choices, but with a core of decency that we respond to without feeling manipulated. All the supporting players do a fine job, but this is Walken's picture, and Walken is a great actor, one of the greatest working today.
Watch how subtly Walken plays the early scenes where he refuses to take the job, and how consistently Connell has his actors play "emotional" scenes in a minor-key. Connell could have written "big" emotional scenes, could have given his characters dozens of one-liners, "zingers," but then he would have made "The Score" or "Heist." The Opportunists is better than either of these films, better too than "Ocean's Eleven." All these films tread similarly well-worn thematic paths, but The Opportunists aspires to the upper echelons of neo-noir drama thanks to smart, restrained direction and the presence of Walken.