THE VAULT

US, 2017, 91 minutes, Colour.
James Franco, Scott Haze, Taryn Manning, Francesca Eastwood, Q'orianka Kilcher, Clifton Collins Jr.
Directed by Dan Bush.

The Vault provides an intriguing mystery. On the one hand, much of the action is a bank heist. On the other, with intimations from the credits sequences, it is a story of ghosts and hauntings and revenge. While the idea is rather ingenious, the execution some might find rather laboured, the attention on the bank robbery and its familiar styles taking up a lot of time before the revelation of the ghosts and their vengeance.

The credits sequences are eerie, the robbery, mask criminal, staff and customers shot, bodies collected and stacked in a report, burnt. It is later revealed that this took place in 1983.

The detective surveys the bank, Clifton Collins Junior, passes fireman in action gear on the street, sits in his car with his partner – later receiving a call about the robbery and starting a siege.

Meanwhile, in the bank, the young woman is discussing alone with one of the managers one another woman is at the teller, making yourself very difficult. At a signal, the firefighters enter and the robbery is on, threats, touches of violence, persuading one of the tellers to turn off climbs and open the vaults – and the robbers finding only $70,000.

The audience has glimpsed one of the assistant managers, played by James Franco, who then intervenes, hoping to avoid any bloodshed, giving information to the robbers, advising them to go down into the port where there are millions of dollars. He seems to be having premonitions of ghostly action.

In fact, in the basement of the vault at the ghosts, rather ghoulish, of the victims of the 1982 robbery who then reap their revenge.

The two women robbing the bank clash but are doing this for their brother who is dependent on them. They get away with the money, their brother being killed – and, out of the desert, with vehicle difficulties, they are confronted by the ghosts as well.

While the pace is slow for action fans, the idea is yet intriguing.

1. The title, the different meanings, the bank vault, the vault of the living dead? The combination of bank heist with wanting conventions?

2. The American city, the bank, the interiors, the service area, the basement and the vault? The musical score?

3. The tone of the credits sequence? The robbery? The thieves and the masks? The staff? Victims? The killings? The burning of the victims? The building on fire? The revelation that this was 1982?

4. The visit of the detective, his drink, checking out the bank, with the guard at the door, passing the fireman? In his car, the Partner? The later call from the bank about the robbery? Outside, the police, his interventions? The mystery of who made the call?

5. The two sisters and the bank? The sister at the counter, aggressive, the older Asst, getting flustered? The younger sister, with the manager, her story about being a missionary in Mexico? The signal for the robbery? The familiar aspects, the entry of the thieves discretion disguised as fireman? The role of the sisters? The importance for Michael? The behaviour of the staff? Threatening the two women, the alarms, the signals? Opening the safe? The irony of only $70,000?

6. The inventor intervention of the assistant manager, James Franco? Appearance, intervention, timid? The demand that nobody be hurt? The code for the robbers themselves? The injury to the guard?

7. The assistant manager and his collaboration, his advice, going down to the basement, opening the vault? The film suggestions of his memories and the flashbacks?

8. The motivation for the robbery, the two sisters, Michael, his devotion to them? Their concerns? Their clashes with each other?

9. The other members of the gang, going downstairs, the apparitions, their menace, his death? Nothing being seen on the CCTV? The woman lying on the ground, her pitiful comment, turning into a cool, killing?

10. Audiences and understanding what happened in 1982, the visual flashbacks, the marked murderer, the killings, piling the bodies, the fire? The confrontation with the assistant manager and killing him?

11. Michael and his death? The sisters getting away with the money? Driving out into the desert, the mystery? A car breaking down, the appearance of the ghosts?

12. How successful a combination of bank robbery with hauntings?