Plot

Armenian director, Sarik Andreasyan decides to make an American-Russian flick out of Raul Inglis’s fruitless story. Two brothers are sentenced to prison because of a crime Frankie (the elder brother) committed. James (the younger brother) spends 16 months in jail whilst Frankie is put behind the bars for 10 long years. After doing his time, Frankie returns to convince James to pull off one last bank job, which can set them up for life.

Inspiration gone wrong:

Apparently, American Heist is based on the 1959 film The Great St.Louis Bank Robbery which didn’t receive critical recognition either, despite being based on true events. To make it look like the 1953 bank robbery attempt of Southwest Bank in St. Louis, the film was shot on location in St. Louis in 1958 with some of the men and women from the St. Louis Police Department, as well as local residents and bank employees, playing the same parts they did in the actual robbery attempt.

Let’s just put it this way: When a heist film revolves around the overly-emotional relationship between two brothers, with a poor plotline and disconnected chemistry, it’s not going to be received well, let alone appreciated.

Saving Grace: Star Cast?

Adrien Brody (as Frankie) was given a very distinguished role which ensued to be funny. Hayden Christensen (as James Caley) of Star Wars fame, on the other hand, had a very humourless role which he lived up to. The Brazilian-American Jordana Brewster (as Emily), who I thought (for a second) was Julianne Moore, did complete justice to her supporting role with Hayden. Akon (as Sugar) was an unneeded character in the film. He should be singing, not acting.

 

The Real Saving Grace

Moreover, my brother pointed out the cinematography being brilliant by Antonio Calvache. There! I discovered one good thing about the film, well, apart from the star cast (can’t call me a cynic). Most importantly, the background score didn’t go at all with the scenes and the seriousness of select moments.

Culmination:

All in all, the story wasn’t up to the mark, hence, the characters did what they could do best, yet, weren’t able to give that boost to the worthless script. An explicit no-go from my side.

I would say watch this if you’re a Brody fan, but it’s just going to disappoint you (Injustice to that brilliant actor). Watch this if it’s a lonely Friday night and you’ve gone through every other film on your laptop (and we mean every other film).

As far as this film goes, the B-Change verdict is a 2/10.

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