No Sudden Move (2021)

Since Steven Soderbergh retired back in 2013, he's managed to direct at least five full length films. Impressive for someone supposedly not in the business. His latest, set in 1954 Detroit followers a similar path in quality that has beset many of his films. Pretty much any Soderbergh production is worth a watch, he's an incredibly solid film maker whose range usually hits the scale in between 'solid' (Haywire [2011], Contagion [2011]) and 'excellent' (Che: Parts I & II [2008], Ocean's Eleven [2001]). No Sudden Move fits the former, but for the first hour or so, Soderbergh is really on top form. Some small time criminals are hired to steal a document, and as the heist goes badly wrong, they try to find out who hired them and for what purpose. Benicio Del Toro (utter genius) and Don Cheadle (another genius) lead the cast which is full of star names (a Soderbergh trait). They play two of the criminals initially hired by a welcome Brendan Fraser, who naturally isn't the top of the chain. Soderbergh's ability to weave comedic elements between the strain of seriousness with the backdrop of a period piece works well; although certainly in the second half you wish he'd toned it down a tad as the film hurtles towards its end. And that's when No Sudden Move falls down; once we approach the inevitable double/triple crossing at the climax, it all becomes a bit silly. The film does an admirable job of keeping the pace of several threads going, but when the ambition is this big, the climax has got to hit, and it doesn't. It's fine, but I certainly lost a bit of interest at the third or fourth potential ending to the film. It's another box ticked for Soderbergh, and he certainly makes a better fist of this then many others probably would. 6.9/10