The Code

"The Code" or "Thick as Thieves" as it is called is a 2009 film starring Morgan Freeman, Antonio Banderas, Radha Mitchell, and Robert Forrester.

The story concerns a slippery thief, Keith Ripley (Freeman), who teams up with a thief from Miami, Gabriel (Banderas) to steal antique Faberge eggs that are kept in a vault surrounded by huge security trappings at a jewelry store named Romanov's.

Ripley needs to do the theft as a debt payment for his late brother, who was mixed up with a Russian mobster. He wants the eggs, and he's determined to get them. They are being watched by Lieutenant Weber, who has been trying to get Ripley for years.

Freeman and Banderas didn't have much chemistry, and Freeman, of course, is capable of roles having much more depth. So both kind of glided along, Banderas using his charm, and Freeman his geniality.

Derivative story with a couple of twists. A decent rental.

What a big letdown. First off, I wasn't really expecting much out of this, the trailer wasn't really something but it has Freeman and Banderas in it, both I am a big fan of. As it turned out, it was all a big, fat failure of a heist movie. I always welcome recycled plot lines just as long as the execution brings something new to the table but in Thick as Thieves, there wasn't. We've all seen it before and the twist at the end, although you never see it coming within the movie, the shock factor was poorly executed.

I love all of Freeman's works but this one is at the end of the line. The chemistry between Banderas and Mitchell was off, there was no spark none whatsoever. Skip it, rent it but don't buy it. It's a waste of money.

Oh Dear, in deed. What could have been one of the best heist movies in recent history turned out to be (in my humble opinion) a serious let down.

Morgan Freeman and Antonio Banderas, a potential chemistry that on paper seemed a sure fire hit, but and there's always a but. It just didn't materialize, whether it was the short-comings of the dialog or the direction I can't say; but it just didn't sizzle.

When you think of heist movie partnerships then you have to be very special to match up against De Niro and Norton has seen in 'The Score'.

Freeman and Banderas - don't....sorry. For me this was the most overwhelming shortfall of the film, the two main protagonists just don't bounce off each other and has a consequence the characters fail to draw you in.

As for the plot, Freeman - going for the last big score before retirement, Banderas - hoping to improve his standing in the criminal fraternity whilst making a lot of money in the process.

Formulaic with a twist-at-the-end that was disappointingly obvious because the writers thought it had to have a twist-at-the-end. When will they ever learn that you can tell a story without having the ubiquitous twist - the bigger surprise would have been - oh wait for it - no surprise.

Unfortunately, this movie will go down has another example of Hollywood doing what Hollywood does, very little thought and effort put into an idea that could have been so much greater than the sum of its parts.

I gave this movie a 5 for the attempt of entertaining us, it should be a lot higher if only it had lived up to it's potential.

Thick as Thieves is pretty much as lousy as heist films get. It's lazy, derivative, and really quite offensive in the way it leans back in your favourite chair, flicks cigarette ash on your carpet while smirking at you and telling you there's nothing you can do to stop it as you've already paid your money.

The twists are both of everyone's least-favourite flavour: one you can spot a mile off and the other one - while unexpected - you won't give a hoot about. The heist too is lazy, but by that point you won't be surprised even if you can remember all the talk of it being an impossible job. Your expectations will be so low you'll tell yourself it's par for the course. Both Morgan Freeman (usually reliable) and Antonio Banderas (usually intolerable) coast by with just the pilot light on, totally lacking chemistry, and only Radha Mitchell comes away with any kind of credibility, doing decent work and putting in far more effort than her underwritten character deserves.

While I can understand why talented actor Robert Forster (who looks somewhat ghastly here, like he's coming off a major illness) is appearing in a direct-to-video movie (at least in North America), I don't understand why Morgan Freeman and Antonio Banderas are doing in a direct-to-video movie. Surely they are still getting calls from major studios? Did they really need the money? Anyway, they bring their natural charisma to this movie... but not much more. Freeman doesn't seem to be trying very hard in his performance, and Banderas doesn't watch his accent, making some of the words he says hard to figure out.

The production values are mostly very decent, a trademark of direct-to-video kings Millennium/Nu Image Films. Although this set-in-New-York film was partially filmed in Bulgaria, it doesn't show. The only flaw in the production values was the CGI used in the subway sequences. It looks pretty cheesy.

The heist central to this movie has some tension, but I found it hard to get involved. For one thing, many of the steps the Freeman and Banderas characters use to foil the various security measures are never fully explained to the audience. Even worse is that it's implied that this heist was planned in JUST A FEW DAYS! Seeming all these security measures they have to conquer, it would really take weeks, even months to plan! The movie is never really boring, but in the first half of the movie you can kind of guess what will happen in the next scene. There are twists towards the end, but they are expected, as in other caper movies like this one. Such twists happening are no longer a surprise. Plus, as they start to unfold, you will start to guess just what new twists will happen.

Wait until it comes on cable... on a rainy day... when there's absolutely nothing else to do or watch.