Cunning helmsman Steven Soderbergh may have many scratching their heads during his latest crime caper in the vein of film noir. With its share of clashes in using a heist to touch on strife in-the middle of the 20th Century concerning corporate maneuvering, not to mention socio-political issues.
No Sudden Move features Don Cheadle and Benicio del Toro, who’ve made solid impressions for the director of films like Ocean’s Eleven and Traffic among a wider cast that may not be so easy to keep track of for the easily distracted.
The knotty tale from scribe Ed Solomon (Men In Black) comes from an actual Motor City scandal which surfaced to high-end industry and government figures. The snappy, spry way the script is presented by the director who also doubles (again) as a lensing pro (Peter Andrews) and designer and embraced by a more than able cast provides breeziness to the intricacies at hand. All the while using some notable locations of a metropolis not seen much on film for a while to its advantage.
Cheadle’s recently out of prison Curt Goynes is retained by beefy middleman Mr. Jones (Brendan Fraser) to draw guns in a brick house in a middle-class neighborhood. He’s partnered with fellow masked criminals, Roland Russo (del Toro) and Charley Barnes (Kieran Culkin) as feminist wife (Amy Seimetz) and kids (Noah Jupe and Lucy Holt) are held hostage.
A philandering, milquetoast mid-level accountant (David Harbour of Black Widow) is whisked by Charley to purloin a document from the office of a Genera Motors executive, Mel Forbert (Hugh Mguire). Mayhem and plenty of turnabouts ensue with an unctuous, playful secretary (Frankie Shaw) beginning to reveal the wry, crowd-pleasing nature of the proceedings.
Syndicates are well-represented with Ray Liotta as the impassioned spokesman Frank Capielli and Bill Duke displays imposing menace as Aldrick Walkins. Jon Hamm looks to have fun with the detective embroiled in it all, not to mention what Julia Fox does with the staying, as well as stinging musses of Frank.
Plenty of moving parts are part of what Soderbergh unspools in a very glossy, attractive package (not shot on a iPhone). The maker of films like Out of Sight, and Contagion knows how to pull it off in a more entertaining way than you might expect. As small-time robbers are really in for it and turn to outrageously funny responses while not takin