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movie review - The Score

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

This is a flick about two robbers (played by Robert De Niro and Edward Norten). It iss supposed to be slick and it's supposed to be tense. It is neither.

Seens that should be tense - such as the actual robbery - are sapped by being drawn out way too long. Others that manage to keep it snappy tend to be completely throw-away, such as early attempt by DeNiro's, older, wiser thief to scare off Norton's, "younger, brasher" version. These scenes just don't add a thing to the story, either in of themselves or as a means of building for later scenes.

And it takes the movie so long to get to the robbery - via, for instance, a strange scene where our 'heroes' buy some access codes to a security system that just noodles around for five aimless minutes - that there's no time left for the fallout after the robbery goes awry. Where most tales would be reaching their halfway mark, this one is racing towards the credits.

Without giving anything away, I will say that the hurried ending is incredibly pat; the movie more or less just ends without resolution.

My suggestion: skip this film.

Not recommended.