MovieFreak.com - "The Good Thief" DVD Review by Dennis Landmann

Nick Nolte stars as Bob Mantagnet, a wisecracking master thief whose luck seems to have finally run out. Pursed by the police at every turn, the king of con gambles it all on the casino heist of a lifetime inside the decadent world of the French Riviera. A savvy rogue with the perfect quote for every occasion, Bob's last bid at glory is to rob the priceless paintings inside an underground vault that’s impossible to crack.

The Good Thief is an update of the 1955 French film Bob le Flambeur. At times an expertly crafted crime caper, Neil Jordan’s film runs along some familiar lines in the genre. Introducing the main characters, check. Laying out the plan, check. Recruiting muscle for the job, check. Diverting attention from the real heist, check. Pocketing of the money, check. This may sound like the formula for a heist film, and it is. But The Good Thief is not as straight-forward, revealing, or typical as other films in the genre. In fact, Jordan’s film relies on the characters, dialogue, and actors to make the formula plot more than it is. Character actions and interactions play out very nicely. The performers are quite effective as they are pretty good character actors. Additionally, Jordan injects the script’s dialogue with some fun and wit, giving the actors more versatility to display on screen.

Jordan handles Bob’s introduction rather well; it is quick and straight to the point. Bob (Nolte) is a proficient gambler with a heroin addiction. After upsetting the players around the table with a win he crashes the restroom and shoots up with a needle. A young girl named Anne (Nutsa Kukhianidze) walks in and sees him, but says nothing. Later, she walks the streets, and Bob invites her to his apartment where she can stay. Both unexpectedly form a father-daughter relationship as the film progresses. Also, Bob’s two buddies in crime, Raoul (Gérard Darmon) and Paulo (Saïd Taghmaoui, Three Kings), make a cool impression. Bob is well-known in the cities and towns nearby the French Riviera. The police chief, Roger (Tchéky Karyo), tails Bob every time he leaves his apartment. Nolte and Karyo share some pretty good scenes together.

Notably, The Good Thief reminds of recent crime capers, such as Ocean’s Eleven and The Italian Job. Since Neil Jordan can’t afford a huge cast or car chases, one reason being a tight $30 million budget, he works around the edges and creates a smart, seductive, and enjoyable heist film. Jordan includes a few subplots that work well, and scenes about the planning for the big heist are enjoyable. His use of the French Riviera is perfect, and cinematography by Chris Menges is terrific. On the other hand, the film suffers a bit from a slow pace. Still, The Good Thief is enjoyable.

On the acting front, Nick Nolte is really good here, and despite the occasional mumbling and lighting of cigarettes, he gives Bob a cool flair and persona. The general impression I got is Nolte is still at the top of his game, more so if he finds a good character to play. The supporting cast is very good, too. There are some familiar and effective character actors, such as Karyo. Ralph Fiennes’ cameo appearance appears out of the blue, really, but is a welcome surprise. Overall, The Good Thief is a smart and enjoyable heist film despite minor flaws.

20th Century Fox presents The Good Thief in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. The print is sharp and clear. Colors are a little off, however. Still they appear vivid and well-saturated. Exterior scenes have an effect on the colors as they start to turn a bit soft. Edge enhancement shows up in a few scenes, but compression artifacts are not an issue. Overall, the video transfer is pretty good, and the print is in near excellent condition.

20th Century Fox presents The Good Thief in English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. This transfer is less successful, as the material is just not that great. Surround usage occurs in only a few instances, such as the music soundtrack. Sound effects, like street noise and such, come across a little disappointing. The soundtrack is mainly front-centered, although dialog scenes are clear and easy to understand, except for some of Nolte’s mumbled lines. Also, dialog is somewhat nicely reproduced across the front channels. Overall, the audio presentation is decent, lacking quality.

Fox offers some nice extras here. Available on both sides of the disc (widescreen and pan-and-scan) is a generally insightful commentary by Neil Jordan. Also available on the widescreen side are 7 deleted scenes with optional Neil Jordan commentary. Some of them are interesting; others don’t fit too well into the final film. The video quality is kind of rough for these early scenes, and they’re somewhat interesting to watch after the film. For some reason, only the pan-and-scan side offers a making-of featurette called “To Film a Thief,” which runs some six minutes and is mostly self-promotional stuff with interviews and all that. On the whole these extras are pretty reasonable.

You can select to view the film with optional English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese subtitles. The DVD’s menus are not animated. The 109-minute feature is organized into twenty-four chapters.

Neil Jordan’s The Good Thief is smart and enjoyable. A heist flick with some nice characters and actors, plus a generally nice soundtrack, makes for enjoyable entertainment. Fox offers pretty decent video/audio quality, plus a few decent special features. Make this DVD your next rental.

THE MOVIE	7
THE VIDEO	8
THE AUDIO	6
THE EXTRAS	5
OVERALL (not an average)	7