KING OF THIEVES MOVIE REVIEW SERIES

This is unchallenging territory for Marsh, the Oscar-winning “Man on Wire” docmaker who has recently segued into tony prestige biopics like “The Theory of Everything” and “The Mercy.” Settling with d.p. Perhaps because he’s in the clear on that front - though his quiet sensitivity earns him tedious homophobic banter from the geezers - Cox’s low-flying mastermind comes off most engagingly here. Others, like Michael Gambon’s senile, incontinent fence, serve merely as the butt of recurring old-people jokes.

KING OF THIEVES MOVIE REVIEW SERIES

Penhall, far from the sleek form of his TV series “Mindhunter,” has written them less as distinct personalities than as empty vessels for the actors’ well-worn screen personae - save for Broadbent, cast intriguingly if not quite convincingly against type as a sadistic bully. Yet as the film slackens its pace and shifts awkwardly from caper mode to sober moral deliberations, its one-note characters can’t quite carry it. But it’s barely half the story in “King of Thieves,” which dwells in more leisurely fashion on the ugly, petty fallout of the job, as honor amongst thieves falls predictably by the wayside when faced with millions to divvy up. The planning and execution of the heist itself proceeds in fairly limber fashion, egged on by Benjamin Wallfisch’s dandy electro-jazz score. When shy young alarm specialist Basil (Charlie Cox) comes to Reader with a well-honed plan for raiding a bling-rich vault in London’s jewelry quarter, the chief argument for doing it seems to be that it’ll at least give them something else to talk about. Joe Penhall’s screenplay lingers on the accumulating losses and indignities of old age, as Caine and his former underworld peers - including short-fuse hardman Terry Perkins (Jim Broadbent), inept ditherer Kenny Collins (Courtenay) and Ray Winstone-like thug Danny Jones (Ray Winstone) - variously gripe about loneliness, tiredness, replacement hips and diabetes treatment.

Lest viewers think they’re in for a merry “Ocean’s Elderly” romp, however, the mood swiftly takes a melancholy turn, as gone-straight career criminal Brian Reader (Michael Caine) sinks into ennui following the death of his wife Lynne (Francesca Annis, whose early-exit cameo is the lone female speaking role of any consequence in this well-aged sausage-fest). Marsh’s film begins perkily enough, with a slip-sliding credit sequence and vintage soul soundtrack combining to set a japey, swinging retro mood, deftly channeling some of the ensemble’s cinematic salad days into the bargain. It certainly dwarfs the profile of last year’s less studio-slick “The Hatton Garden Job,” even if that film arguably had a little more B-movie spring in its step. Senior-skewing hits like “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” tend to be more unisex in focus, but this strictly old boys’ affair, led by a weary Michael Caine in native Cockney form, evidently has enough marquee appeal to cross quadrants. distribution, “King of Thieves” has already opened in Blighty to solid returns - opening against the buzzier “Crazy Rich Asians,” and outdoing its screen average, proving once more the power of the “gray pound” at the British box office.

King of thieves movie review