THE CODE (THICK AS THIEVES)
US, 2009, 104 minutes, Colour.
Morgan Freeman, Antonio Banderas, Radha Mitchell, Robert Forster, Rade Serbedzija, Marcel Iures.
Directed by Mimi Leder.
The Code is another heist film with a variety of twists. However, it was released straight to DVD rather than have an extensive theatrical release. This is surprising, given the strong cast. However, the film is sometimes difficult to follow, traces over episodes that have been familiar from other films.
Morgan Freeman portrays an art thief, long sought by police officer Robert Forster. Freeman finds Antonio Banderas executing a robbery on the New York subway and decides that he could be a good accomplice in one last robbery of Faberge eggs and other valuables from the Romanoff company in New York. There is a background of repaying a debt to the Russian Mafia. Also involved is the daughter of Freeman’s dead partner, played by Radha Mitchell.
The film goes through as a preparation for the heist, the execution of the heist – and the revelation that Banderas is actually an undercover policeman. Then there are further revelations that show that the planners of the crime knew that all the time and were capitalising on that.
While the cast is good, it is an ordinary enough heist thriller, enjoyable but undemanding. It was directed by Mimi Leder, a prolific director for television but who made some popular films for cinema in the late 90s including The Peacemaker, Deep Impact and Pay it Forward.
1. Crime thriller? Robbery? Police investigation and pursuit?
2. The New York settings, the Turkish baths, the subway, apartments, the stores, vaults, exhibits? Authentic feel? Heightened for this kind of crime drama? The musical score?
3. The title, the references? The alternate title, Thick as Thieves?
4. The introduction to Keith Ripley, his coming into the baths, his ruthless shooting? The irony of the deceit? Audience expectations, the truth?
5. The subway, Gabriel and his following the jewellers, on the train, his attack on the jewellers, his escape, the police, the acrobatics on the train and in the tunnel? Ripley watching? Approaching him and making the proposal about the robbery?
6. Mentor and apprentice? The Romanoffs, the Faberge eggs, the historical background in Russia, Gabriel reading the Russian newspapers, Alex approaching him? Ripley warning Gabriel against a relationship with Alex?
7. Gabriel ignoring this, the relationship with Alex? Her abduction by the Russian Mafia? The Russians, Gabriel coming, the exchange, her freedom?
8. Weber, his years of tracking Ripley, as a character, his police work, the assistant and his information? The frustrations?
9. The robbery, the vault, the revelation that Gabriel was working undercover, the timing for the closing of the vault, Ripley and the contents, the phone call, the deal? Gabriel and his going to rescue Alex?
10. Meeting the old man, the presumptions? The true identity of the Mafia chief? Gabriel identifying the wrong man? The old man and the motivation for getting the eggs? Their being made of wood?
11. Gabriel, with Weber, the clashes, identifying the old man, discovering that he was Victor, Ripley’s partner, Alex’s father? Allegedly dead? The flashback to what really happened in the baths?
12. Ripley free, Alex and her father?
13. Alex and Gabriel, his real identity, the future?
14. A caper, double-crosses and twists?
