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NEW YORK (CNS) -- It's fixin' to rain in the "The Hurricane Heist" (Entertainment Studios). This serviceable mash-up of the apocalyptic weather event and crime caper genres is as shallow as a puddle.
But undemanding moviegoers, at least, may come away sufficiently satisfied. Its running time, in fact, goes by about as quickly and easily as the film itself exits the memory.
Emotionally scarred by 1992's Hurricane Andrew, during which their father was killed before their (and the audience's) eyes, estranged adult brothers Will (Toby Kebbell) and Breeze (Ryan Kwanten) have reacted to the trauma in different ways. Will has become a meteorologist and a straight-shooter.
Breeze has followed in Dad's footsteps, inheriting his auto and mechanical repair business. But his after-hours boozing and womanizing have taken a financial and personal toll.
With a storm looming that Will feels, instinctively, will be a lot worse than the authorities imagine, he urges Breeze to join him in obeying the mandatory evacuation of Gulfport, Alabama, their childhood hometown where Breeze still lives and to which Will has returned, on a rare visit, to evaluate the brewing hurricane. Fate and the requirements of the plot, however, intervene to detain the siblings.
ATF agent Casey (Maggie Grace), who has been assigned to oversee the safe delivery of a huge cache of money slated for shredding at the local branch of the U.S. Treasury, arrives to ask Breeze to get the generator there, which he services, back up and running. Without it, of course, the cash in her care, some $600 million, can't be turned to valueless confetti.
What none of these characters yet realize is that they are about to get caught up in crime of the title, an inside job -- led by cynical Treasury drone Perkins (Ralph Ineson) -- designed to take advantage of the extreme weather to make off with Casey's cargo of currency.
Screenwriters Jeff Dixon and Scott Windhauser's feeble attempts to establish human interest -- Casey, for instance, is out to atone for a disastrous lapse in her past -- fail entirely. Still, grown viewers seeking nothing more than fast-paced action will find what they're looking for in director Rob Cohen's busy B movie.
While the script is laden with too much vulgarity to make this endorsable for teens, the mayhem is held somewhat in check by the fact that Perkins and his fellow conspirators are initially intent on avoiding fatalities. Thus they start off by shooting tranquilizer darts at their adversaries rather than bullets.
As for the romance that develops between Casey and Will, it remains at the level of an undertone and gets no more illicit expression than some flirtatious dialogue. They're far too preoccupied busting bad guys to get up to any misbehavior in the bedroom.
Beyond these topics, the closest thing to a moral dimension in "The Hurricane Heist" comes through Afghan War vet Breeze's refusal to leave a comrade behind and Casey's unswerving dedication to duty. It's all very respectable in a civic way. But before you know it, the recollection of these patriotic exemplars -- like the impression made by the movie as a whole -- is gone with the wind.
The film contains frequent stylized violence, about a half-dozen uses of profanity, a few milder oaths, at least one rough term and much crude as well as some crass talk. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
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Mulderig is on the staff of Catholic News Service.
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CAPSULE REVIEW
"The Hurricane Heist" (Entertainment Studios)
Serviceable mash-up of the apocalyptic weather event and crime caper genres in which two estranged brothers, one a meteorologist (Toby Kebbell), the other a mechanic (Ryan Kwanten), join forces with an ATF agent (Maggie Grace) to foil the crime of the title, an inside job (led by Ralph Ineson) designed to take advantage of the compulsory evacuation of Gulfport, Alabama, to rob the local branch of the U.S. Treasury. Though the film's feeble attempts to establish human interest fail entirely, viewers seeking nothing more than fast-paced action will find what they're looking for in director Rob Cohen's busy B movie. The closest thing to any moral dimension comes through the Afghan War vet repairman's refusal to leave a comrade behind and the federal officer's unswerving dedication to duty. Frequent stylized violence, about a half-dozen uses of profanity, a few milder oaths, at least one rough term, much crude and some crass talk. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
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CLASSIFICATION
"The Hurricane Heist" (Entertainment Studios) -- Catholic News Service classification, A-III -- adults. Motion Picture Association of America rating, PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.