Review: Honest Thief

Liam Neeson returns to the action genre with Honest Thief. After a slew of hit and miss actioners (The Grey, A Walk Among the Tombstones, Run All Night, The Commuter etc.) from Neeson after the blazing success of the Taken series, we now have Honest Thief to add to his CV.

Honest Thief in cinemas from 23rd October 2020

A bank robber tries to turn himself in because he’s falling in love and wants to live an honest life… but when he realises the Feds are more corrupt than him, he must fight back to clear his name.

So, nothing spectacular from the premise, and outside of a couple of very sparse chases and fights nothing spectacular to watch either. Despite having a feel of the 1998 F. Gary Grey movie, The Negotiator starring Samuel L. Jackson about it, it never really pulls the trigger on what it could have been.

That’s not to say that this is a bad action thriller, far from it. Liam Neeson throws himself into his latest guy with ‘a particular set of skills’ to right wrongs and clear his name. Except the confusion here is he’s trying to clear his name only to hand himself in for crimes he actually DID commit, to the tune of $9 Million stolen over 12 years. But it’s OK, because he never spent any of it and now he’s fallen in love (with a double tough performance from Kate Walsh) and he wants to turn his back on all of that life. Even though he doesn’t like her her vegan cookies, or for that matter being referred to as the ‘In And Out Bandit’.

The supporting cast of Jai Courtney, Robert Patrick, Jefferey Donovan and Anthony Ramos, lift this above the straight to home release fare you get from Bruce Willis and Steven Seagal these days and there’s just about enough decent action sequences to keep your attention for the slick run time (98 minutes).

So overall solid but otherwise unspectacular action thriller that should just about keep Liam Neeson fans happy.

Rating: 3 out of 5.
Honest Thief official poster on Screen One

Honest Thief opens in UK cinemas from October 23rd 2020.

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