Hey folks, Harry here with Peter Larkey's comparison reviews of THE HEIST vs. THE SCORE. The first is coming May 4th from David Mamet and THE SCORE comes out later in the year from Frank Oz. There are of course the obvious surface-level similarities between the two... but only Peter Larkey knows how close the films really are. Read and learn how the styles of Oz and Mamet play out... after seeing both...
Dear Harry,
The Heist vs. The Score
Not since Deep Impact and Armageddon have I noticed two
films produced by different studios that had such obviously similar plots as
do The Heist and The Score. Both of which are very good films
albeit in slightly differing ways despite the fact that they are both movies
about a major theft executed by a master thief on the verge of retiring for
good. Gene Hackman's character Joe in The Heist because he
accidentally let his face be video taped in a semi botched robbery and
The Score's Robert De Niro/Nick Wells who is essentially tired of his
life of crime and wants to spend more time with the woman he loves
Diane/Angela Bassett and go legit. Though retirement for either of them
quickly becomes an impossibility as Gene Hackman's character is essentially
blackmailed or coerced into pulling off one more heist while De Niro's
character is more or less talked into a final big score that will set him,
his girlfriend and his partner up for life. His partner in this case being a
being a very bloated and from what I hear often pant less Marlon
Brando/Maximillian Beard who basically looked and acted his way through the
film as if he was going to drop dead at any moment. His counterpart Bergman
in The Heist brutally played by Danny De Vito is a much more ruthless
and insidious benefactor since he basically threatens Joe into getting him
to do what he wants and obviously cares very little for him. While Brando's
tactics in The Score are a lot more subtle and involve a great deal
more guilt since they seem to have a lot of history together and share a
more personal bond than their counterparts in The Heist do.
All of which works to both film's benefit because each character in each
film is rather unique in spite of the plot similarities and therefore need
different things to motivate them. Which is why De Niro has a long time love
who he essentially wants to quit the biz for thus his ultimate drive or
motivation to perform one last score and go out with a bang as it were.
While Hackman on the other hand has to be forced into pulling off one last
job because he already has a wife and a pretty good living outside of his
criminal dealings. Although that kind of gets fucked up by Jimmy, the
seriously short tempered nephew of De Vito's character who Hackman is forced
to bring along on the job. Very nicely played by Sam Rockwell who is always
a pleasure to see in just about all his films and really added a lot of
energy and tension to the story. Even though his character was a complete
asshole and whose complete lack of control only succeeded in making a bad
situation worse time and time again for all involved. Yet his actions helped
propel the story since you just knew from the very moment you met him he was
going to fuck things up for himself or more importantly for Hackman's
character in one way or another.
Just as Edward Norton's character Jackie Teller fucked things up for De
Niro in The Score by being impatient and reckless with himself and
those around him at a time when everyone had to hit their respective marks
perfectly. Although I have to admit for the first half of the film I was
still wondering if Norton's character was an undercover cop or truly just a
greedy stupid bastard because of his seemingly underhanded behavior and
general smarminess. Regardless both characters in both films were a joy to
behold as they are both extremely talented young actors and helped smooth
out some of the very minor rough spots of their respective films. With
Norton scoring slightly higher praise for his rendition of a semi retarded
janitor named Brian at the Canadian customs house he and De Niro are trying
to rob, making for some of the funniest scenes in the film and helping
lighten the tone from time to time. Not that it necessarily needed it but
The Score is slightly darker in some ways than The Heist or at
least there was a lot less going on plot wise. Since The Score seemed
to focus a lot more on the 3 principle characters which truthfully got a
little boring at times but I enjoyed both films nonetheless.
Still I have to admit that I enjoyed The Heist slightly
more than The Score simply because I felt the actors were on better
par with each other and I liked that the film was a little more busy than
The Score and had more interesting characters in general. I also
really can't think of any scenes that needed to be cut or re worked while I
unfortunately can think of quite a few scenes in The Score that could
possibly be shortened or even removed altogether, like the public park
exchange of security codes and some of the stuff with De Niro's
hacker/informant character which seemed a little redundant at times.
Although what I viewed and reviewed was a test screening after all and one
of the first ones to be held publicly so there are bound to be changes
before the film is eventually released sometime this summer. While from what
I understand The Heist will be released a lot sooner since it scored
better with test audiences and needs a lot less work before the final
product is finished and ready for public viewing. Either way both films are
definitely worth watching and probably 5 times better than most films made
today and should both be seen even if only for comparison value.
As always if you have any questions or comments about anything that was
just written about, or you have something to add yourself. Please feel to
send an email to
peter_larkey@hotmail.comand
someone will get back to you as soon as possible-THANKS!
Sincerely,
Peter Larkey
