After an elaborate jewel robbery Joe Moore and his crew go to collect their cut from Bergman. However Bergman ropes them into another job taking gold from a Swiss airline prior to transfer. Joe reluctantly agrees to do the job and takes Bergman's nephew along to reassure him. However Joe is never without a backup plan and double cross follows double cross.
This really tries to be good it has a good sense of tough moodiness about it and has plenty of good lines and a top class cast. However it tries too hard to be a twisty crime thriller and doesn't quite convince. Where twists and double crosses are best is when they are unexpected and surprising. Heist has so many `twists' that they lack impact or power. Instead of being surprised we expect the next one to be only a few seconds away. Although some of them are clever most of them lack the punch Mamet clearly wanted them to have. That said it's still an enjoyable thriller but don't expect the plot to stand up in the cold light of day.
As I said the cast are famous and all do well. Hackman is grizzled but clever and can easily `do tough', Lindo is always good to watch but Ricky Jay seems out of place. I always find him easy to watch because he is naturally curious I think but his manner doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the cast. DeVito and Rockwell are good. It would be hard to compete in such a male driven plot and indeed Pidgeon struggles to get a character for herself.
The cast do so well because Mamet is a good writer of dialogue even if he overdid the twists, lines are quotable, funny or just cool `My motherf****r is so cool when he goes to sleep sheep count him' or `don't you want to hear my last words?' `I just did'. Even if the plot doesn't convince the direction, the dialogue and the cast make this better than the mess it should be.
Overall it has good qualities, but the one driving force it needed was a much better story. It's entertaining enough to pass 100 minutes but really the many word that comes to mind is disappointing.
