Aging ex-thief Bob Montagnet (Nick Nolte) is down on his luck, addicted to heroin, and still very much under the eye of the French police, who aren't so sure that he has really gone "clean." As it happens, neither are Bob's old friends and associates, who suggest one last big score: a certain casino in Monte Carlo that has an uncrackable vault full of cash and walls hung with priceless art. How can he refuse?

The Good Thief (a remake of the 1955 French film Bob le flambeur) seems to setting itself up to be a "crime caper" movie, much like Ocean's Eleven, only with a darker side from the persistent theme of drug use and abuse throughout the film. Certainly the double-crossing, plan-within-a-plan scheme for the heist that Bob is drawn into does display considerable ingenuity. The viewer is let in on the plan somewhat by stages, so while we're certainly ahead of the cops, we're also still somewhat in suspense as to what exactly Bob's gang is up to.

The Good Thief offers a look both at a glamorous locale of Monte Carlo and the seedy underbelly of the high life on the French Riviera, with young women and men drawn into exploitation by pimps, nightclub owners, and run-of-the-mill low-life types. Especially vulnerable are the illegal immigrants, one of whom is drawn into a "Judas" role between the police and the criminal element through the threat of deportation. Nick Nolte's character of Bob fits in strangely well here, a wanderer from the United States who always seems to have a different story to explain his origins and current run-down state. Bob could be just another junkie and gambling addict, and certainly when we meet him he's near the bottom, but that's not all he is: former criminal colleagues as well as the French police know him as a "good thief," one of the best at concocting a heist.

The other implication of the title's "good thief" is suggested by Bob himself; is he really a morally good person despite his run-ins with the law? While the film hints more than explicitly delves into this aspect of the film, Bob's relationship with Anna (Nutsa Kukhianidze), whom he rescues from abusive exploitation from her "employer," suggests that he has an eye on more than just cash rewards. I was pleased to find that The Good Thief doesn't fall prey to the typical Hollywood trend of "leading man must have romantic involvement with co-starring woman, no matter how out of character it might be": the relationship between Bob and Anna does develop over the course of the film, but in a more complex and ultimately more satisfying way than the stereotypical December-May romance.

With a "heist" film, though, the ultimate judgment of how well the film comes off has to depend heavily on how the heist itself comes off. All throughout the film, we've been intrigued by seeing how the different parts of the plan are developed and brought together. While some parts of the conclusion of The Good Thief have some merit, on the whole it's only a so-so denouement. At least one part of the plan is left with a gaping plot hole in it, and there are no real twists or reverses in the finale to keep the viewers on the edge of their seats.

The Good Thief remains worth watching, in part for its generally interesting plot and in part for its stylish handling of the material. The cinematography is interesting, offering distinctive imagery and using a touch of freeze-frame at the end of scenes as an accent.

The DVD

Video

Viewers will be pleased with the quality of The Good Thief's transfer. The film is presented in its original 1.85:1 widescreen aspect ratio, and is anamorphically enhanced. Both colors and contrast stand up well throughout the film, even in some challenging lighting conditions; both skin tones and other colors look natural. A few minor compression artifacts show up, but these are barely noticeable; on the whole, the image is clean and clear, with good detail and minimal edge enhancement.

A pan-and-scan version of the film is found on the flip side of the disc, wasting space that could have been used for a better-quality soundtrack, or more special features.

Audio

The Good Thief's Dolby 5.1 soundtrack is rather disappointing, being passable but not up to the standards of the video transfer. The surround channels aren't used extensively, but that's not a particularly important issue. The real problem is in the balance of the dialogue track with the rest of the film. The music and effects portion of the soundtrack is nicely clear and clean, but the dialogue is consistently muffled and unclear. With the cast including several actors whose style of delivery is best described as "mumble," the inadequacy of the dialogue track is painfully highlighted; many of the lines were unintelligible or nearly so.

A Spanish 2.0 soundtrack is available as well, along with English and Spanish subtitles.

Extras

The Good Thief offers a reasonable selection of special features, starting with the audio commentary track from director Neil Jordan, which is actually included on both the widescreen and pan-and-scan sides of the flipper disc (talk about a waste of space). The widescreen side of the DVD also includes seven deleted scenes with optional commentary from Jordan; these appear to be from early cuts of the film, as the image is fairly rough. On the pan-and-scan side of the DVD, there is a six-minute promotional featurette on the making of the film, called "To Film a Thief."

Final thoughts

The Good Thief is a competent and entertaining "heist" film, somewhat in the style of Ocean's Eleven, but a bit darker. Because the story's conclusion ends up being fairly straightforward, it doesn't have a high replay value, which is why I've suggested it as an excellent rental choice rather than a purchase.