The Hurricane Heist is directed by Rob Cohen. The film stars Toby Kebbell, Maggie Grace, Ryan Kwanten, Melissa Bolona, and Ralph Ineson.
In The Hurricane Heist, two brothers who lost their father when he was killed in Hurricane Andrew in 1992 are reunited in their hometown, with another major storm ready to strike. Meanwhile, a group of criminals infiltrates the local US Treasury facility, in an attempt to steal millions of dollars scheduled for shredding. Amidst the chaos, the brothers join forces with a beautiful young ATF operative to fight back against the criminals threatening their town, with the weather around them becoming an equally dangerous threat.
Posters and the ad campaign for The Hurricane Heist bill it as being from the director of The Fast and the Furious. Whether that’s a good or a bad thing will be entirely up to the viewer. While The Hurricane Heist does manage to get in a few solid action sequences, it never quite embraces the sheer lunacy and over-the-top mayhem that a mash-up like this requires. Bland, one-dimensional characters and a juvenile script don’t help things either.
If nothing else, no one can accuse The Hurricane Heist of false advertising. There’s plenty of mindless action that goes on throughout the movie. There’s a heist. And it takes place in the middle of a hurricane. Moviegoers that want visual entertainment that isn’t cerebral in the least are sure to be entertained here. Unfortunately, I like a little more substance to my films.
A major problem here is the writing and the character development, or lack thereof. The script feels like it was written by a middle schooler. The one-dimensional characters don’t help things any; they’ve got the barest semblance of a backstory, and exist for the sole purpose of action scenes. A few one-liners here and there don’t make me any more entertained.
The biggest issue here is that the film is a wasted opportunity. It could have been an over-the-top farce that didn’t take itself too seriously, but the filmmakers seem torn between creating something we can interpret seriously, or going full Sharknado. The end result is that the movie, despite a few fun action moments, never lives up to its ridiculous potential. As is, it’s overlong and, for what it is, a bit overplotted too.
And while we’re at it, why the inappropriately dramatic musical score? A movie like this would have benefited from some 80s rock songs. The trailer at least had the sense to include “Rock You Like a Hurricane,” so why not put it in the actual film along with some other rock anthems? Something like this could have given the movie at least a marginal improvement in its atmosphere.
The Hurricane Heist will certainly find an audience in those that love action-packed movies with no depth or character development, but for those of us that like a little more substance to our action thrillers, it’s a miss. The trailer is pretty accurate; it’ll be the indicator of whether this is one for you to see or not.
Rating: One-and-a-half stars out of four.
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