Honest Thief [Blu-Ray]

Director: Mark Williams

Cast: Liam Neeson, Kate Walsh, Robert Patrick

Release Date: December 29, 2020

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 5/10
Disc Rating: 6.5/10

Synopsis:

Meticulous thief Tom Carter (Neeson) has stolen $9 million from small-town banks while keeping his identity a secret. But after he falls in love with the bubbly Annie (Walsh), Tom decides to come clean about his criminal past, only to be double-crossed by two ruthless FBI agents. Packed with action, Honest Thief is a tale of redemption and one man’s mission to make things right for the sake of love.

Please Note: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Post. The opinions I share are my own.

‘Honest Thief’ tells the story of Tom Carter (Neeson), a master thief who decides to change his life and ways when he meets a woman named Annie (Walsh) who makes him suddenly lose his desire for the thrill that robbing banks provided. Intent to make certain that his life goes the right way and his past isn’t lingering over his happiness, he attempts to turn himself in if provided leniency. But when a pair of crooked cops decides to keep his stolen money for their own, a dangerous situation quickly escalates out of control leading to dead bodies, lies and missing money that all conveniently points to Tom. Unwilling to let his life be destroyed by these men now that he stands a chance at real happiness, Tom sets out to prove his innocence one way or another.

Directed by Mark Williams (A Family Man) from a screenplay that he additionally co-wrote with Steve Allrich (The Canyon), Williams does a quite capable job at the helm of ‘Honest Thief’ which also marks his sophomore outing as director, guiding along the fairly generic story without issue and delivering smooth looking action and chase scenes that rarely disappoint. The film definitely owes a great deal of credit to the cast which is comprised of many talented individuals and includes Liam Neeson (Cold Pursuit), Kate Walsh (TV’s The Umbrella Academy), Robert Patrick (TV’s Perry Mason), Jai Courtney (Suicide Squad), Anthony Ramos (Hamilton) and Jeffrey Donovan (Sicario) along with more, the majority offering solid performances for the most part in each of their respective roles and helping to at least excel the film to something decent.

‘Honest Thief’ is a largely enjoyable offering with enough action and excitement to keep fans of Liam Neeson’s action films fairly content throughout, while also contributing a somewhat touching love story at its center that helps to keep the characters feeling at least mildly relatable as everything goes spiraling out of control in their lives. ‘Honest Thief’ largely has its heart in the right place and the capable work of Neeson in the lead helps to keep things entertaining enough along the way, but the film too frequently finds itself stumbling in clichés and missed opportunities. Seemingly more content to play everything by the most generic book possible and merely trying to keep things trotting along haphazardly instead of exploring some elements and characters that would have helped it to become something more noteworthy. It’s by no means bad film or a great film but it does manage to keep things intriguing enough thanks to the cast and sprinkles of violence and tension along the way. If you’re already looking forward to the film but haven’t yet had the chance to check it out I would encourage you to give it a chance and make up your mind, but if you were already on the fence I would suggest going with a cheap rental option or simply waiting for it to pop up on your favorite premium channel or streaming service at some point down the road.

Overall, ‘Honest Thief’ is for the most part your average Liam Neeson PG-13 action fare and it delivers an altogether entertaining experience with its share of action, excitement and even a bit of romance, plus of course Neeson doing what he does best these days. It never really manages to move beyond average and plays everything pretty straight forward and by the book without many surprises or unexpected turns occurring along the way. Even while it may not be anything special or extraordinary, it’s by no means a bad film either and anyone looking for some easygoing and mindless fun with some chase sequences and shootouts to keep you engaged could certainly do far worse on a relaxing evening at home. Yet at the same time it probably isn’t quite worth going out of your way for either unless you’re a diehard Liam Neeson fan.

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Honest Thief’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation with the film’s original 2.39:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks great as a whole and delivers a clean, smooth and nicely detailed presentation from start to finish without suffering from any notable problems along the way. It holds up beautifully even during the various fast moving and darkly lit sequences throughout, never resulting in anything occurring onscreen becoming negatively affected or rendered indiscernible. Overall, this is a solid high definition video presentation that shouldn’t have any trouble satisfying fans as well as first time viewers.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release features a 7.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio Soundtrack. This multichannel soundtrack makes a nice complement to the onscreen action and excitement, providing a clean, sharp and at times quite aggressive audio presentation throughout. It repeatedly takes advantage of all seven available channels in order to send music, gunshots and vehicles, along with plenty more whipping throughout the various speakers whenever appropriate and never allowing any dialogue or other audio elements that might be occurring simultaneously to be distorted or rendered inaudible in the process. Overall, this is a great 7.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack that sounds great every step of the way and never disappoints.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Honest Thief’ does not include any bonus content.

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Film Rating: 5/10
Disc Rating: 6.5/10

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‘Honest Thief’ is Now Available to Own on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital from Open Road Films & Universal Pictures Home Entertainment

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