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211
Director: York Shackleton Cast: Nicolas Cage, Dwayne Cameron, Michael Rainey Jr., Sophie Skelton, Weston Cage, Ori Pfeffer, Shari Watson MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:27 Release Date: 6/8/18 (limited) |
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Capsule review by Mark Dujsik | June 7, 2018 A bunch of generic types get into a massive shootout in 211 (pronounced "two-eleven," as in a police radio code). There's the once-proud and now-cynical cop who's nearing retirement. There's the young cop with a pretty, pregnant wife waiting nervously at home. There are some robbers who were in the military and use their strategic prowess to pull off a daring bank heist. There's even the frustrated police chief who—I kid you not—at one point complains, "I've got the mayor crawling up my ass!" Such clichéd dialogue is pretty much the standard for how these people talk and the extent to which John Rebus' screenplay bothers to develop these characters. Most of the heavy lifting belongs to the young cop's wife, played by Sophie Skelton, who offers a gooey monologue about being the woman left behind for a dangerous job and provides the tragic back story of the main character. He's Mike (Nicolas Cage), the soon-to-retire cop and the father of his young partner Steve's (Dwayne Cameron) wife. They're on patrol while the bank robbery, orchestrated by some ruthless mercenaries, is happening. They also have a ride-along: a bullied teenager named Kenny (Michael Rainey Jr.). The movie's characterizations are so inconsistent that Rebus crams in a touching moment between the kid and Steve, even though the two have had no meaningful interactions before that. The actual bonding happens between Mike, who might be a little bit racist, and Kenny, who's African American, perhaps to make us reconsider the whole racism thing. Either way, the cops leave Kenny behind, only so that he can have his own emotional moment on the phone. Most of the movie is a lengthy standoff, in which the robbers kill a bunch of hostages and innocent bystanders for no reason, while the cops plan a way to stop them. There's little thought behind the procedures of the cops or the robbers (whose genius escape plan is—again, I kid you not—to walk out the front door), although director York Shackleton does stage the pointless mayhem with some panache. When it isn't reveling in slow-motion moments of murder and carnage, 211 indulges in half-cocked social commentary, which disappears once the bullets start flying, and sappy melodrama, which increases exponentially as the heist continues. This occasionally cruel cops-and-robbers story is overwrought and undercooked. Copyright © 2018 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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(for violence and language throughout)
