The Score Review
by Mark R. Leeper (markrleeper AT yahoo DOT com)July 17th, 2001
THE SCORE
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: This is a 1950s or 1960s style heist film, set in the present. Robert DeNiro stars as a risk-adverse safecracker who wants to retire form crime but takes one last job at the request of a personal friend (played by Marlon Brando). Edward Norton plays a hotshot young sharpster who is also in on the crime. The plot is mostly straightforward suspense with little nonsense. Rating: 7 (0 to 10), +2 (-4 to +4)
I am sure I must have seen almost the identical plot before. This is a heist film made for an adult audience who probably wanted a crime film like they had seen in theaters when they were teens. There are no superhuman acrobats taking nosedives off of buildings like in ENTRAPMENT. There is no rock score. There are no ballet- like martial arts. This is just a basic heist film with a decent and distinctly credible and un-flashy script.
Nick (played by Robert DeNiro) is a safecracker who has managed to be successful by never taking risks. If a job is not a safe bet (pun intended), he backs out. Sometimes even the safe bets turn out not to be so safe. When one job very nearly goes wrong Nick is unnerved enough to decide that it is Nature telling him that it is time to get out of the game. He returns to his home in Montreal where he owns a jazz club, and decides to manage it full time. He proposes to his girl friend Diane (Angela Bassett). She has one condition. He must stay retired from crime. But before the deal can be cemented, Max, a Montreal kingpin and personal friend, has one last supposedly easy job for Nick. Nick wants no part particularly because the heist will be right in his hometown of Montreal. More and more details seem to complicate the job. Nick's partner in the crime is to be a smart, but uncontrollable young crook, Jack (Edward Norton). Jack treats a locked front door like a welcome mat, even at his associates' homes. The young crook is a know-it-all who seems good at everything he does but at avoiding rubbing people the wrong way. Together they plan to steal a priceless historic artifact from the Montreal Customs House.
The script by Kario Salem, Lem Dobbs, and Scott Marshall Smith works like an episode of the old "Mission Impossible" television series. We see pieces of the heist being put together, last minute changes, and things that go wrong, much like a good episode of "Mission Impossible." This team might not be bad choices to write scripts for the Tom Cruise "Mission Impossible" films. The complications are, however no more and no fewer than are needed to make the story believable. The telling is cold and noirish, which is just what it is supposed to be. Director Frank Oz, the voices of Yoda and Miss Piggy proves surprisingly good at directing a serious crime film.
THE SCORE has a more than adequate cast with little flashy or scene-stealing acting. Edward Norton probably has the flashiest role and even that is low-key by today's standards. He plays what is nearly a double role. Jack pretends to be a brain damage victim to be hired for a job in the Customs House. One nice (?) character I have not mentioned is Stephen (Jamie Harrold). Stephen is a master hacker who lives in his mother's basement in a house with a lot of screaming in both directions. He seems like the last person the risk adverse Nick would want to depend upon.
The film itself remains low-key up until the time of the climactic heist. Then the pace really picks up. Before that the plot even stops twice for jazz interludes. Though Oz never lets the music steal time from the story the way Woody Allen does in SWEET AND LOWDOWN. On the subject of music, the score of THE SCORE is by Howard Shore. It adds tension to the suspense scenes, but never seems to have much of a melody.
Angela Bassett is the one misused celebrity in a totally minor role that should have been played by a less famous actress who needed a break. She has nothing to do in the film but demand that Nick give up crime and to look like an attractive reward if he does. Speaking of being attractive THE SCORE seems to be attracting an older audience who learned to appreciate much the same sort of film in the 1950s and 1960s. It does the job. I rate it a 7 on the 0 to 10 scale and a +2 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
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Copyright 2001 Mark R. Leeper
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
