Engaño Mortal

Yep - John Travolta has now sadly joined the likes of Cage, Willis, Gibson and Russell Crowe in making god-awful movies for an easy paycheck and frankly it's sad to see. I mean from Saturday Night Fever, Grease, Swordfish and Pulp Fiction to THIS absolute garbage! Why?

This terrible 'straight to streaming' trash lacks any sembelence of credibility, excitement or originality from the start and while Travolta still has the charisma to mail in a decent enough performance the rest of the cast (including a washed up Kristin Davis and usually decent Lukas Haas) are as throwaway in their parts as the lacklustre script is.

I actually gave up and switched off less than half way through this botched bank heist debacle it was that bad - there really is nothing to keep you interested or engaged here folks.

Amazingly, there seems to be a sequel already in the works!!... which is about as enticing as a fistful of crypto = sad times as Hollywood continues to churn out mundane rubbish and once respected actors become a parody of themselves. What actually happened to GREAT MOVIES starring great actors?!

John Travolta joined his former Face/Off star Nicolas Cage in going to VOD movies several years ago.

Travolta cannot even get a cameo in mainstream movies anymore.

That does not stop him from delivering an engaging performance. A reason why he has lasted for 50 years in this business.

The producers of Cash Out were so convinced that it will find an audience. A sequel has already been made.

There is a touch of Out of Sight about this movie. Mason Goddard (Travolta) leads a team that includes his inept brother Shawn (Lukas Haas) to pull off various heists.

A sports car heist goes wrong when his long time squad member Amelia (Kristin Davis) turns out to be an undercover agent.

They manage to escape and Mason is on an enforced retirement.

That is until a few months later, Shawn has got involved in a plan to rob a valuable crypto-wallet from a safety deposit box in a bank. Mason tags along knowing his brother will screw up.

The robbery doesn't go as intended. They now have hostages. Amelia shows up as a hostage negotiator. The box does not contain a crypto-wallet.

It is a dirt box owned by a shady billionaire crook. If the contents are spilled, everyone could end up dead.

On the basis of a low budget VOD movie, this is enjoyable enough. As long as you keep expectations low.

Some of the story does not make much sense. The cast give it their all though but there is a lack of chemistry between Travolta and Davis.

Mason Goddard (John Travolta) and Amelia Decker (Kristin Davis) lead a team of expert robbers. Amelia turns out to be an undercover FBI agent, but she fails to arrest the group. A few months later, Mason is semi-retired and has to stop his unreliable brother Shawn (Lukas Haas) from a wild robbery scheme.

The starting premise is fine although what it turns into makes a lot less sense. In fact, it makes next to no sense. I do like the lighter tone of this standard bank robbery caper. I hate the swooping drone shots. It's been years since that's innovative and it gets tiresome. The bank manager is kinda fun. Travolta is still doing this character and it has rarely worked. He needs to add in more vulnerability. This is a B-movie and nothing more.

After looking at this movie my opinion.

The story line is actually not bad at all. Some of the actors played a good roll in the movie but then some where not that good. If more was done to real life and circumstances this movie could have rated 5.8 to 6.0.

More could be done in the action department for eg. Time lines to events in the movie. Travolta did good but there was not enough from the second leading actor. Maybe there could have been stronger assistant actors for travolta.

The time line of events could also be closer to real life that would have given the story more real life feeling.

That said the movie if watchable.

A team of criminals led by Mason (John Travolta) attempts their biggest heist.

Cash Out relies heavily on genre tropes to deliver a story devoid of surprises as well as good writing. The action is forgettable. There's a lack of character development. John Travolta's charismatic and laid-back attitude, while entertaining, doesn't come across as a realistic depiction of a professional robber. There were times when the movie scored high on unintentional comedy.

Behind those continuous hyperactive shots that look like the work of a kid who got a drone for Christmas, unnecessarily shaky POV takes, cheap VFX, cheesy dialogue, and Travolta's spectre of expressions being narrower than these criminals' knowledge of how to rob a bank, there might be something positive. For instance.