Mann was this ever long and boring... First off, the score is so agressive and annoying, not sure why it's so intense but I couldn't wait for it to finally stop—very annoying sound! I don't know why this is labelled as action and thriller but there are no such things in this movie (a few gunshots don't count), it's crime drama all the way.
The story isn't very captivating but what kept me in anticipation was the heist, which was promised sinse the beginning. It circles around the drain the whole runtime before that but we finally see it happen in the last 40 minutes. Those barely 10 minutes of heist are awesome though, I appreciate the craft behind all the tools used to pick locks, cut wires and doors, it's fascinating and looks great.
The characters are interesting but it doesn't feel like we do anything with them. There was this one interesting deep conversation with his girlfriend in the car and then at the restaurant that I really liked but that's about it. Great cinematography in general but the best visual was the intro scene, it had perfect lighting and I loved the rainy setting and night lights. Good dialogue, alright acting, nice explosions and poor pacing.
Review by drqshadowBlockedParent2022-02-12T20:52:45Z
Michael Mann's directorial debut tells the story of a highly skilled safe-cracker (James Caan), doing very well as a freelancer, who falls for the temptation of glamorous scores offered by a better-connected wise guy. Caan's scuzzy bandit hawks used cars by day and slings boosted diamonds at night, a well-read but not exactly well-learned con man with a chip on his shoulder and a jumbo-sized inferiority complex. He developed his life's master plan while in prison, a grand ideal that's visualized by the oft-referenced photo collage he keeps folded in his wallet, but has overlooked the nuances of building his way up to that big payoff. As such, he's dead-set on skipping the formalities of courtship and leaping straight to material riches, familial spoils and industrial acclaim without taking the time to earn any of it. He gets pretty far by way of brazen fearlessness, unmatched technical know-how and raw willpower - right to the verge - but then the devil comes seeking his due and everything catches fire.
Thief is a moody, wet-pavement type of film that's caught right in the middle of Hollywood's transition from slower, moodier '70s crime flicks to the more bombastic, narcissistic rewards of the coming decade. Scarface probably borrowed a lot from this one, with its twisted sense of misplaced confidence, insatiable appetite and steep emotional distance.
Its dogged attention to detail is amazing - Mann insisted the actors learn the intricacies of the job, so when we're watching James Caan drill a safe, we're actually watching him do the dirty work - but that deliberate pace is less engaging during the long pauses and awkward hiccups of its human interactions. And the ending is more of a brick wall than a legitimate climax, a sudden rush of violent events that sees us to the credits but doesn't leave us completely satisfied. Right from the start, Mann shows he’s in full command of his medium, but he still has some room to grow.