Released: 28th August
Seen: 30th November
Darren Aronofsky is the kind of director who seems to revel in polarising the audience, in making a film that’s going to get an extreme reaction no matter if it’s positive or negative. There aren’t really any films in his catalogue you could say are just good or well-liked; you either love his stuff or hate it. In recent years, even though I’ll admit he’s obscenely talented, I just wasn’t into his work on films like Mother! Or The Whale, but in the past, he’s delivered truly breathtaking work like Black Swan so undoubtedly there was a chance that he was going to win me back at some point with one of his works. It feels like Caught Stealing seems to be the first time that Darren has tried to make a film with a strong mass appeal (hilarious to say in retrospect since it bombed at the box office), and honestly, it’s just a damn good time.
Caught Stealing starts simply enough. Henry “Hank” Thompson (Austin Butler) is a bartender from the Lower East Side of New York who has his fair share of problems, namely a traumatic history thanks to a car accident that killed his friend and a serious alcohol dependency problem that’s probably not the best thing for a bartender to have. Still, despite that, he calls his mother every day, has a girlfriend named Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz) and in general has a not-shit life… until his neighbour Russ (Matt Smith) has to leave the country and makes Hank look after his cat. This is the first domino that will end up putting Hank on a collision course with a drug cartel run by a pair of Hasidic Jews, corrupt police officers with a love of black and white cookies, a substantial body count brought on by numerous shootouts, and even learning how to drive. It’s a fast-paced 90s action-style nightmare that Hank’s going to have to work hard to survive.
Unlike many of Aronofsky’s films, Caught Stealing is a simple, light-hearted action film that revels in over-the-top characters, grandiose action scenes, and a mix of cheesy dialogue, making for a much easier viewing experience than his other works. While the film does use Aronosky’s usual flair for the visual, as expected with him, the film just looks goddamn good; there aren’t really any moments where you feel like you’re about to be physically ill because of the insane shit he’s thrown on screen. It’s a standard-issue 90s action film that just happens to have some genuinely interesting characters and good visuals, something that we honestly haven’t had in a while in this specific form.
The actual story of Caught Stealing, with all its twists and turns, is laid out pretty expertly. Obviously, some of them you could guess from the second the film started because of the kind of film this is, but a lot of the way the narrative moves is just really well put together and makes it easy to follow. You won’t end up wondering why a certain character is behaving a certain way or suddenly doing something you didn’t expect because the film actually takes the time to make sure the audience can keep up with what it’s doing, making it so you can just kind of lean back and enjoy the fun of everything… You know, the fun that happens between the big emotional beats, obviously, a film like this has some major heartbreaker moments that aren’t going to be fun, but most of the film is just a big old ride.
The action scenes in particular are just a glorious time, the big shootouts, scenes of the crime bosses kicking the ass of the main character and car crashes galore are just so well presented that they’re impossible to look away from. Every scene just seems to get more and more intense, but also, there are moments where Caught Stealing just kind of admits that a fight is going to end quickly with a good punch to the head and won’t bother wasting time elongating it. It makes for some of the film’s funnier moments, which is appreciated in making this film stand out from a lot of other ones in a similar genre.
It also doesn’t hurt that this cast is stacked with heavy hitters bringing their best to this genuinely fun material. Scene stealers include Matt Smith just living his punk rocker fantasy, Regina Hall being the confident badass she always is, and even Bad Bunny manages to make his moments in Caught Stealing really shine and show why he’s a superstar. Of course the entire film revolves around Austin Butler and anyone who saw Elvis will tell you that this guy can carry any film he happens to be in with ease, it’s honestly just a gripping performance that makes you love this loser so much that you want him to escape from the insanity he’s found himself in but you also get how a dickhead like this could get in so much trouble. It’s the kind of role that means he has to be able to do a little bit of everything, from comedy to heavy drama to some really intense action scenes, and Austin Butler is just a good enough actor that he can do a little bit of everything and sell the hell out of it.
Caught Stealing is just one of those films where everyone is bringing exactly what’s needed to make for a really good time. While a couple of elements of the film leap up to the realm of actual greatness, most of the film is just really good, which is more than enough to make this a fun time. It’s a glorious throwback to a time before CGI-heavy action blockbusters, where they had to rely on throwing punches, breaking cars and character actors delivering quirky performances, and it’s just nice to see that kind of film being made to show that it can still work. This film got slept on, and that’s a shame because it’s the kind of fun original film that we just do not get enough of anymore.
Movie Meister Reviews 