'Heist' Holds Up
Oh man, did anyone else catch the season premiere of 'Heist' last night? I've pretty much given up on new shows. Lately they have either been lackluster or cancelled so fast I felt gypped for even liking the characters. Things are still revving up after the mid season break and finally (finally!) I can get caught up in something besides short lived reality shows.
'Heist' is directed by the talented Doug Liman ("The Bourne Identity", "Mr. and Mrs. Smith") and stars cutie Dougray Scott who plays Mickey, the charismatic mastermind behind a plan to rob a row of jewelry stores on Rodeo Drive during Academy Awards week. He's got a crack team of quirky thieves and a secret vendetta against an old partner who shot him, left him for dead, and then insinuated himself with Mickey's wife and young daughter. His main opposition is the female detective Amy Sykes (Michele Hicks) who is tough, smart, and a bit of a kleptomaniac!
The best things about this show are:
- It's character driven and full of great banter. I immediate love that Mickey and his new partner James (Steve Harris) kill time by asking each other trivia questions. The detective duo, African-American Tyrece Evans (Reno Wilson) and Overweight-Irish Billy O'Brien (Billy Gardell), swap racial slurs and other insults. In the car Billy asks Tyrece if he enjoys riding up front for a change and Tyrece replies that he can hear Billy getting fatter. And the scene where Mickey, who has been checking out Detective Sykes, catches her shoving pink Daisy razors into her coat and calls her on it... cheeky.
- Our thieves are relatively good guys and very clever. While casing out a bank, Mickey tells James how he doesn't feel bad about robbing faceless hegemonic corporations. When they see a suspicious kid in a parka, they leave and call the police. The kid has a bomb strapped to his chest and is blown up by the real "bad guys" when he can't escape with the money. Mickey comes up with a plan to rob the other criminals instead of the bank.
- Action and execution and pacing. I'll admit when I first saw commercials for 'Heist' I wondered how they would make a weekly show about one big robbery so I wouldn't get bored. Now I know. Blow up a kid. Have layered plot lines. Execute skilled plans that are both believable and sharp. Let the criminals have fun doing it. Hint at volatile relationships and leave me wanting more. Oh yeah, and do it with a smirk.
The show had its weak points too. A couple things come off as just too convenient for our thieves and I think they overplay the "cat and mouse game" aspect of the show. Overall though I was very happy with this new offering. Although I've said a lot about the pilot, I swear I haven't ruined it. There are a lot more things that pleasantly surprised me that I hope others will discover on their own. Others can criticize the show as a rip-off of Ocean's Eleven, but that's just the genre and 'Heist' is doing it well. I wish I had taped it. Here's hoping for a quick rerun.