No sudden move camera used8/30/2023 That’s not to mention the strain said affair inevitably puts on his relationship with his wife, Mary, whose frustration director-and-actor Amy Seimetz ( She Dies Tomorrow) efficiently conveys in a mix of mutedly fearful and bitterly exhausted tones, all in the fair amount of screentime she has.įurther down the line is Ray Liotta’s Goodfellas (1990)-evoking performance as mobster boss Frank Capaldi Julia Fox ( Uncut Gems) as the endearing yet opportunistically vicious Vanessa Capaldi Jon Hamm ( Baby Driver) as the no-nonsense organized crime detective Joe Finney and a notable cameo from a frequent Soderbergh collaborator that’ll have the director’s most devoted fans nodding in recognition at even my mentioning of their professional relationship. David Harbour ( Black Widow), for instance, remains relatively effective at portraying the rather bumbling and incompetent Matt Wertz, whose constant efforts to keep his family safe are thwarted by several personal complications that, try has he might, he can’t get under control one of them being his affair with one of his secretaries, Paula (Frankie Shaw). Of course, the supporting cast behind the two headliners’ heist is filled with many other notable actors worthy of mention. And over the course of the film’s narrative, they each find themselves having to attend to unfinished business and separate goals that conflict with what the other wants. While they’re certainly sticking together as best they can to find a better chance of making it out alive, both actors make clear through their subtly nervous demeanours and conversations that their characters are ultimately in it for their own self interests. And the actors leap on that chance whenever they can.Ĭheadle and Del Toro are the highlights, cleverly pulling off a sort of push-pull dynamic in which Curt and Ronald’s partnership is laden with a paradoxical sense of both trust and uneasiness. Ed Solomon’s ( Bill and Ted Face the Music) screenplay, however complex and twist-laden to a fault it may be, ensures that each and every one of the characters get at least one chance to shine. Perhaps the most obvious appeal of a film with this kind of mid-budget caliber is the unbelievably stacked cast it boasts a roster that somehow isn’t fully represented in the bold-printed opening credits that No Sudden Move proudly puts on display. What unfolds from there’s a somewhat convoluted, drab, yet still eminently entertaining and competently assembled crime film that exposes, in typical Soderbergh fashion, the futility of violence in the pursuit of financial capitalistic ambition. Matt, unable to find the proper documents at the office, brings to the criminals fake ones in a rush, and a skirmish between the three gunmen ultimately leaves a head-shot cadaver in its aftermath. (Noah Jupe) and Peggy (Lucy Holt), at gunpoint, the job that unfolds in the subsequent minutes ends in disaster. As the three of them break into the Wurtz’s house the next morning and hold Matt’s wife, Mary (Amy Seimetz), and their two children, Matthew Jr. He finds employment quickly enough, as he’s introduced to Doug Jones (Brendan Fraser), a middleman who assigns him with a relatively simple three-hour task: hold the family of a General Motors accountant named Matt Wertz (David Harbour) hostage while he retrieves an important document from his boss’s office.Ĭurt’s paired with two other gunmen for the job: Ronald Russo (Benicio del Toro) and Charley Barnes (Kieran Culkin), none of whom even remotely recognise each other or Curt and, as a result, remain neurotically paranoid in the hours leading up to the job itself. Walking down these streets is Curt Goynes (Don Cheadle), a hired gun newly released from prison and looking for a new job in order to reclaim a plot of land he claims was taken from him. The famed Ocean’s trilogy director has been churning out one or two movies every year since Logan Lucky (2017)-during which time he dipped into shooting on iPhones for Unsane (2018) and High Flying Bird (2019)-and his streak of crime thrillers has found a new chapter in the star-studded No Sudden Move.įrom the opening few minutes, it’s clear No Sudden Move is wearing its influences on its sleeve, with old-fashioned opening credits laid over the blue-hued streets of 1954 Detroit, shot through an anamorphic lens so distorted it veers dangerously close to becoming a fisheye. And since returning from his faux-retirement eight years ago, he’s been making films with a never-before-seen rapidity. Despite constant shifts in genre, style, and perhaps even quality throughout his career, Steven Soderbergh remains one of the most eclectic and distinguishable filmmakers working today.
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