Screenhead

Even independent, direct to video filmmaking often stays away from certain types of movie.  For instance, you don’t see a whole lot of indie action fare.  Indie sci-fi is also slim in the market.  And indie heist movies?  Now THESE are rare.  How rare, you ask?  Well, to borrow from Scott Adams, imagine Rush Limbaugh milking Elizabeth Hasselbeck to get milk for his pet sea monster.  Indie heist movies are even more rare than good analogies.

And this particular indie heist movie, dubbed The Code, brings together Antonio Banderas and Morgan Freeman as a couple of thieves out for the score of a lifetime–Faberge eggs.  The downside, of course, is that these priceless treasures are currently hidden in the spectacularly well-secured vault of a New York diamond wholesaler.  And now, the dynamic duo of Gabriel and Ripley is about to tackle that massive score together, through a series of ingenious methods, spectacular double-crosses, and just a little pinch of romance and humor.

Let me be clear up front–this movie is awesome.

That having been made perfectly clear, I’ll elaborate.  It’s a wonder no one’s ever thought to try and pair actors Banderas and Freeman together in one movie, at least not one that I can recall. They work spectacularly well together.  They’re handling their roles with the same kind of aplomb and talent that George Clooney and Matt Damon brought to similar heist roles.  And just because I said that the humor’s been ratcheted down a bit, that doesn’t mean it’s non-existent.  There will be funny here, just not quite in the concentration that, say, Ocean’s Eleven brought it in. I’m comparing this to Ocean’s Eleven for a lot of good reasons, and frankly, I say this says nothing but good for The Code.

Plus, the script is excellent.  They’ve set this up beautifully, and will steadily work through the various conflicts and issues that pop up with smooth regularity.  The stunning inventiveness that The Code offers is spectacular.  By the time you get to the end, you will find a number of twists easily on par with Ocean’s Eleven, or even, dare I say it, on par with The Usual Suspects.

And I said there’d be romance involved?  Yes, that’s here too—if you wanted to use this as a date movie, I don’t think anyone’s going to walk away disappointed.  No matter which side of the date you’re on, go ahead and suggest this one, because no one will be dissatisfied.  I’m actually rather surprised at the sheer number of fronts this movie covers—comedy, action, romance…it’s all here and it’s all well-represented.

It doesn’t matter what side of the aisle you’re on; there are plenty of reasons—GOOD reasons—to like The Code.  The performances are all universally excellent, the storyline is coherent and rich with twists, and the sheer versatility of the movie makes it well worth laying your hands on.  It’s safe to say that, if you like movies in general, you’re going to get SOMETHING out of The Code.  It’s a really rare kind of movie that can say that, and The Code is one of those movies.

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