Armored puts new spin on heist genre

By Evening Gazette

THERE may be no longer any mystery as to how the gang robs the safe (Ocean’s 11), steals the gold (The Italian Job) or takes the picture (The Thomas Crown Affair), yet reruns of heist movies remain endlessly popular and continue to spawn modern remakes.

The heist movie usually involves a jovial gang of males plotting to rob something or someone, and pulling it off with varying degrees of success and plenty of wisecracks.

ARMORED puts a slightly new spin on the old genre as it assembles an all-star cast to attempt an inside job on an armoured truck service.

Matt Dillon, Jean Reno, Laurence Fishburne and Skeet Ulrich star as guards at Eagle Shield Security, who plot to rob their employers along with new recruit Ty (newcomer Columbus Short).

Young director Nimrod Antal explains why he was pulled to the thriller: “A French filmmaker was once asked why he makes heist films and he said, ‘I don’t have the guts to rob a bank, so I just make films about it’.

“I thought it would be fun to play with. It seems like it would be a simple genre, but it’s very difficult to do well.”

Each of the guards has a different reason for taking part in the heist. None of them are really baddies at the outset, but their “foolproof” plan unravels and they turn against each other.

Matt Dillon says: “Armored has a lot of action in it, but it’s essentially character-driven. Each of the characters is very specific with a distinct personality and way of reacting under pressure.

“When I saw the dynamic coming together, it felt like a classic crime picture.”

The film centres on Ty Hackett (Short), who returns from active duty in Iraq after the death of his parents to find a stack of unpaid bills, as well as now being responsible for his 14-year-old brother.

Aware he needs to pay the mortgage, he signs up to be a guard at the armoured car service his father worked for and trains for his dangerous new career under the tutelage of his godfather, chief officer Michael Cochrane.

When his probation ends, his co-workers take him out for a few beers and the conversation drifts to failed robberies and successful heists.

It’s only on the drive home that Cochrane reveals to Ty his plan to steal $42m - the next truckload of cash. Ty agrees to take part as long as no one gets hurt.

Columbus Short, whose credits include Cadillac Records, says he fought hard to land the role of Ty in what he describes as “a very smart movie”.

“It juxtaposes drama and action in a believable way. There are plenty of rock ’em, shock ’em, blow ’em up moments, as well as emotionally intense scenes,” says Short, 27.

“And nobody’s really seen the life of these armoured truck drivers before. It’s an amazing world.”

Sadly for the cast, which also includes Heroes’ star Milo Ventimiglia, they couldn’t really explore that secretive world in preparation for the film.

“I’ve been able to when I’ve played a cop,” says Dillon, who played a police officer in Oscar-winning ensemble drama Crash, “But they weren’t going to let us ride along in an armoured car.

“The research was still pretty intensive. We were shown what could go on if a similar situation took place in real life”.

When it came to the stunt truck chases, though, the actors were only too involved.

“I was in the passenger seat,” says Short, with a laugh.

“We didn’t do the big stunt stuff obviously, we did a little bit of driving, but we were actually in the truck for a lot of the interior shots with the stunt guys on top,” adds 45-year-old Dillon.

“They’d built these pods so they could drive the trucks from on top of the roof and we were in the trucks. It was kind of like being on a ride,” he grins.

Unlike many action movies which have a token heroine as a plot device, Armored has an all-male cast.

“It was a different dynamic,” Dillon admits. “This was a very testosterone-heavy film, but it was a good group of guys, we all got along.

“We worked well as a team, it was very much an ensemble-type feeling. There was a fair amount of joking around, we had fun.”

The Matrix star Laurence Fishburne plays Baines - a criminal at heart who’s found his way into the company of good men, but will take things a bit too far.

“I’ve been playing guys who are kind of cerebral now for a while, so the opportunity to play not the brightest bulb was kind of cool. He’s trigger happy, he’s the loose cannon, he’s the one that will mess this up for everyone,” he reveals.

For Columbus Short, the film was the perfect opportunity to learn from a bunch of veteran actors.

“These guys have been in the business since before I was born, and they’ve done something right,” he says. “They dropped little pearls of wisdom here and there and I made sure I was there to catch them.”