A crime thriller that centers on a man whose memory has been lost due to a bank heist gone wrong. The character will need to piece together the missing 10 minutes from his memory in order to determine who sabotaged him.
A group of men led by Frank (Michael Chiklis) loudly discuss an upcoming heist in a pub right within an earshot of a nosey bartender. The one henchman who happens to be his brother assures Frank that it’s a good idea to plan an illegal operation in front of a potential witness. Next over some “Smoking Aces”-type of opening credits, Frank wearily describes three-card Monty which is a bait and switch con game. Gee, I wonder if this will come back?
The brothers and their poorly cast team are after a rare package that “every cop in the country is after.” It makes me wonder how good are these crew of cons in Cincinnati that every well-funded police agency can’t beat them to it? Besides some massive suspension of disbelief, there’s also plenty of disjointed half-assed dialogue from both Willis and Chiklis. For example, predictable exposition like, “If these guys are backed into a corner they won’t hesitate to shoot,” or “I don’t walk into a room I don’t know how to get out of.” I also found it funny that Frank is the best safe-cracker outside of New York City, who’s the other guy, Johnny Locks?
The story is set in motion when Frank loses his memory and is forced to put the pieces back together after one of the most unintentionally comical bank robberies portrayed on screen. There’s quite a lot to laugh about but one moment, in particular, finds a bank clerk coming out during the rapid shootout to yell at a cop about something and then the officer gets pulverized by bullets. After the bullets stop bouncing, Frank is knocked out and can’t remember the crucial titular 10 minutes where his brother was killed and their package was stolen.
Yes, Willis is hamming it up but it’s not enough to be funny, just enough sincere squinting to be annoying. I’m so confused as to why director Brian A. Miller chose to use CGI exteriors over sets or physical locations. It’s one of the numerous in a procession of bad judgments alongside choppy editing, bad direction, and an even worse script. Bruce Willis has been making a lot of these straight to On-Demand clunkers, I hope to see him in better material soon and hoping this movie is gone from my memory forever.
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