Rating: 
Summary: Decline of Western Morals??
Review: I have come to the conclusion that if the film industry is a barometer of the moral and ethical health of Western society then we must be morally bankrupt. Why do studios continue to make movies in which the heros are shabby crooks whose only redeeming feature appears to be the desire to rip off other crooks? Eventually in this movie we are expected to smile and congratulate the main protaganist as he vanishes into the sunset, ignoring the fact he gassed and pistol whipped innocent people to steal, and I repeat steal the loot. It's no wonder Western society is viewed as decadent and corrupt by other, more enlightened countries. Hollywood no doubt argues that they are giving us what we want, but that just compounds the sordity of it all. Gene Hackman should have known better. He doesn't need the money. Perhaps if he and others were a little more discerning about the roles they portray, then the more impressionable elements of society might not leave the theatre with the feeling that crime and violence can be legitimate, trivial and even cool. Overall, the movie is turbid and confused. The twists and turns are contrived and trite. They are cheap little tricks intended to make us think the characters are smart enough to outwit each other, but end up as little acts of convenience to clean up loose ends. Forget it, its not worth your time.
Rating: 
Summary: Paper and pencil at hand when you watch "The heist"
Review: Joe Moore (Gene Hackman) is a thieve who makes his "profession" turn into art. Always using the same team (Rebecca Pidgeon, Delroy Lindo and Ricky Jay), his mirabolant although intelligent plans are even better than the "jobs" he accomplishes. The problem is, he's thinking about retirement, being already a little too old. Even so, deceived by gangster-master Danny DeVito, he has to do another job to receive the money that will grant him retirement, and also has to accept young, jumpy Sam Rockwell, DeVito's nephew, into his team. The plot isn't necessarily original. The script has many twists, everybody's trying to take advantage of everybody else, and the hidden "message" here may be: once a thive... The fact is, you have to pay attention the whole movie. Blink once, and you may have lost some twist or another. Towards the end, it gets in fact so twisty that some situations are very close on the border of comedy and fantasy. That could ruin the entire movie, but the casting was indeed excellent. All actors did a very good job, creating characters that you cheer for, or completely despise. "The heist" is just an average movie, but Gene Hackman & Co. manage to increase its rating, also using David Mamet's talent in writing wity and smart dialogues. Grade 7.5/10
Rating:
Summary: Very good film
Review: The nice thing abou tthis film is that I wasn't sure about the ending. There were so many cons within cons taht I'm not entirely sure that her leaving with the younger turk seemingly betraying Gene Hackman wasn't just another twist on their ultimate plan.
That shows a great movie. And of course everyone here are terrific actors. Some movies are simply good exercise for everyone's skills and not huge, mega blockbusters or overwhelming success.
Rating:
Summary: Pants
Review: It is always disappointing to see good actors in poor films, you would think by now Gene Hackman could be more selective of his scripts. The Heist has a mandatory 'twist' every 10 minutes most of which have no bearing on the film and are rarely clever, they just end up making the writer look silly. The final twist is a joke, I found myslef laughing out loud at this film and having to remind myself that it is intended to be a straight crime thriller not a comedy.
Rating: 
Summary: Sick and Tired....
Review: By now I think we can all agree that we've had just about enough of Mamet's edgey dialouge. His most recent film "Heist" is where he pulls out all the stops on his ridiculous over-the-top mobster talk like "I'm the go-getter you just gotta tell me what you want me to go get" or "How long is a Chinaman's Name?" Ugh it just made me sick to my stomach to muddle through all of this tripe. And I really don't like to say so because of the incredible dialouge and acting in his legendary GlenGary Glen Ross. But it's the truth, if you want to see vintage Mamet rent Homicide or GGGR, both are outstanding films. For now Mamet has lost his touch.
Rating:
Summary: extremely shallow
Review: the fact that critics such as Ebert and the NY Times guy gave this positive reviews goes to show how irrelevent critics are. They see this film is by David Mamet and are so shallow themselves that they see an amaturish script and talk themselves into believing it is minimalistic. This film was so boring, predictable and just plain uninteresting that I would have loved to see it in the theatre just to see people's faces when they left and realized they paid to see this garbage. Oh and that final scene where Rockwell and Pidgeon confront Hackman and take his truck......think about it, how did he know they would be coming at that exact moment and if so, why did he not just leave before them instead of assuming they would take the "gold" and still let him live...just many hole sin a script that is embarassing to all involved.
Rating:
Summary: Awful
Review: I'm told (and some of the reviews below would seem to confirm it) that David Mamet is highly rated as a scriptwriter. Strange, as the dialogue throughout this terrible movie is some of the worst I can remember. These are the most flacid 'tough guy' scenes to come out of the supposed home of this stuff in a long time, and humourous it is not. The acting is ordinary, the plot convoluted and cliched, and Mamet's much-vaunted 'style', in this film at any rate, adds up to a long string of shots that reminded me, eerily, of The A-team and Knight-rider...
Rating: 
Summary: And the winner is ... not Mamet!
Review: Mamet pieces seem invariably static, talky; working overly hard to be clever and pithy and spinning in tight little circles. None of this makes for good film-making. However, when you introduce Gene Hackman into any mix (but especially this one) and add Delroy Lindo, you've got something very watchable--if not plot-holed and implausible. This is the Hackman-Lindo show and worth watching if only two see two consummate actors breathe life into what, in any other hands, would have been a major yawn. Hackman's been in some bad movies but he never, ever turns in a bad performance. And Delroy Lindo is (like Morgan Freeman, among others) an actor who deserves more credit than he gets. He, too, invariably invests his characters with considerable weight--rendering them entirely believable. So ignore the story-line in this one. It'll drive you nuts. But see it for the two fine actors who bring life to an otherwise listless and unbelievable script.
Rating:
Summary: Twist
Review: Yes This is another David Mamet movie. If your ask for his movies
you need to expect dialogue. The Dialogue is very profound. The aiport scene tends to drag along. It is an interesting thriller and crime movie.
Rating:
Summary: Plot flaws ...
Review: Too many plot flaws to be salvaged even by Gene Hackman.
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