After being recruited by a group of unconventional thieves, renowned criminal Richard Pace finds himself caught up in an elaborate gold heist that promises to have far-reaching implications on his life and the lives of countless others.
Renny Harlin has always been a longtime favorite director of mine. From his low-budget horror film “Prison,” to “A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master,” “Die Hard 2: Die Harder,” my personal favorite of his, “Cliffhanger,” “Cutthroat Island,” “The Long Kiss Goodnight,” and “Deep Blue Sea,” he made films with potent enthusiasm and wasn’t afraid to add moments of excessive and exaggerated action and violence when necessary – the ending of “The Long Kiss Goodnight” is the perfect example of this – but then his career took a nosedive and sadly, he hasn’t rebounded.
He continues to make movies but it almost feels as though he’s lost his passion for filmmaking and instead of delivering immensely enjoyable blockbusters, he churns out straight-to-DVD capers, with little to no fervor included. “The Misfits” is a perfect representation of lackluster, while it does have a lively and endearing cast, led by Pierce Brosnan, the story is a pale imitation of the Fast & Furious films, and while they are most certainly not everyone’s cup of tea, there is no denying that they are preposterously entertaining, something sorely missing from this fiasco.
Pierce Brosnan plays Richard Pace, a world-renowned architect-turned-thief who has just been released from prison and is ready to put his past behind him when he is contacted by Ringo (Nick Cannon), the leader of a gang of thieves who call themselves The Misfits, modern-day Robin Hoods who like to steal from bad guys and give to the poor. He accompanies them on their private jet to Abu Dhabi where they hope to talk him into joining them but he refuses. When his daughter Hope (Hermione Corfield) emerges from the shadows, revealing herself to be a member of the gang, she asks him to help them out, and when he asks why, she informs him that they want to steal gold that is being held under a maximum-security prison which is being used to fund terrorism. Because it is his daughter, he agrees to join them and they must figure out a way to break into the seemingly impenetrable fortress undetected, and then escape with all the gold unnoticed. As to be expected, things don’t go according to plan.
Most of the film takes place in Abu Dhabi and while it is beautiful to look at, the movie is anything but. The story is unoriginal and steals several pages from “Furious 7,” which also took place in Abu Dhabi but was much more enjoyable to watch. The heist scene is reminiscent of any number of better-produced heist films, take your pick, “Ocean’s Eleven,” “The Italian Job,” “Ronin,” even “The Thomas Crown Affair,” which Brosnan also starred in, were all superior in their execution while “The Misfits” presents a heist scenario so outlandish and ridiculous, you wish Vin Diesel and his crew would appear and run them over and take us off in a completely new and more entertaining direction. “The Misfits” amounts to nothing more than a movie that took advantage of the opportunity to shoot in an exotic location, it’s just a pity they didn’t have a competent script to accompany them.
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