everything you have heard about this movie is true.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

Sandwiched between his VACANCY and PREDATORS, ARMORED is director Nimrod Antal's best film, although to be fair that isn't saying much. It's one of those single-location action movies with a relatively low budget (by Hollywood standards), most of which has been spent on assembling an ensemble cast of tough-guy actors. Matt Dillon, Jean Reno, Laurence Fishburne and Fred Ward, all of whom have appeared in great movies, are in supply here, albeit in supporting roles.It's also a chance to find out what happened to SCREAM's Skeet Ulrich, if anybody cares these days. Sadly, there are two problems with ARMORED; the first is the no-name lead Columbus Short, a guy whose acting skills are pretty insipid, so you don't really care much about whether his character wins or loses. The second is the PG-13 rating, which eliminates the kind of hard-hitting violence of the early DIE HARDs that this film so desperately needs.Saying that, it turns out to be a pretty entertaining little thriller. The storyline is basic in the extreme, but I'm a sucker for these single-location movies and in some ways the simplicity of the plot is more appealing than something in which the plotting is overdone, like MAN ON A LEDGE. The narrative is lean, pared-down and propelled by some good, surprising twists thrown into the mix. All of the big names give solid performances, and if it does get a little cheesy at times then that's par for the course. I'd rather a film be cheesy and entertaining than realistic and dull!

In this heist-gone-wrong thriller, Columbus Short plays Ty, an Iraq War veteran who's now working for an armoured transport security company. He's trying mightily to provide for, and supervise, his troubled kid brother Jimmy (Andre Kinney), and adding to his problems are the debts & two mortgages their parents weren't able to resolve before they died. Considering that he could be about to lose the brother to foster services, and the house to the bank, Ty ultimately agrees to help his co-workers in the theft of a whopping 42 million dollars. Co-worker Mike (Matt Dillon) promises him nobody will get hurt, so Ty reluctantly gets on board. Of course, many of us have seen movies like this before, so we can guarantee that this supposedly clever plan is not going to go well. Clearly the guards didn't think it out too well, and their actions become more depraved, and the blood starts flowing. Whatever flaws there may be in the script, it's made up in part by capable direction by Nimrod Antal ("Kontroll", "Vacancy") and superb pacing. The movie is still action-packed, suspenseful, and compelling in its consistently ugly way; we go from liking these guys and sort of hoping that they might pull this off to detesting them and hoping that they get whats coming to them. The worst of the bunch is the impulsive, trigger happy Baines (Laurence Fishburne). Ty's not the only one with something of a conscience, but the members of the team find their time is short once their guilt starts getting to them. Dillon fares best as the heist planner who goes from being charismatic to being an out-and-out psycho; he's fun and in fine form. The cast also includes Skeet Ulrich, Amaury Nolasco, Milo Ventimiglia, Fred Ward, and a rather wasted Jean Reno. Basically this is grim stuff that at least succeeds on a visceral level, but that conclusion is too ridiculous to believe. Seven out of 10.

Here's the thing. This movie is not great. The character development is lacking and the story is fairly simple. However, I felt that the acting was quite good and the dramatic elements of the plot came through nicely. In an era of special effects in the place of content, this was a refreshing change of pace. There were a lot of things that could have been added that would have made this a much better film but overall I came away with a positive feeling. Giving the characters more depth and more motivation would have been helpful as well as showing us a few more aspects of their lives and what compelled them to come up with their plan. Also, a few of the actors were too young for their roles (they were supposed to be friends with the leads father but were actually his age.) Still, this was a lot better than some of the other drivel that passes for "action/thriller" movies these days.

(Credit IMDb) The war veteran, Ty Hackett, is hired to work as security guard by the Eagle Shield Security where his old friend Mike Cochroone works. Ty is having financial difficulties after the death of his father, and is raising his brother Jimmy alone. He teams up with Mike's brother-in-law, Baines, and their coworkers Quinn, Palmer and Dobbs. One night, Mike invites Ty to join in the robbery of two armored trucks transporting forty-two million dollars. The reluctant Ty accepts after Mike promises that nobody would be hurt in the heist.Armored is basically a modern b-movie, just with a more expensive budget, and experienced, quality actors. It doesn't really pretend to be anything more, anything less, and that works for it, more often then not, than it does against it. I'm not the biggest fan of heist movies, the subject of robbing really doesn't intrigue me like most others do, but this is better then most. I liked the conflict between Matt Dillon, and Columbus Short's characters, it provided an interesting point of view for things, and added good things to the storyline too. Complaints? The whole "You witnessed an accidental murderer, so will have to kill him to evade future evidence, and keep an eye on you, so you don't snitch "thing in the middle is very clichéd, and not very original, I also wished they had gone further with Short and his younger brother Jimmy (Andre Kinney) Because that was a good storyline too. Decent amount of action for what it is, and it passed the time amiably enough.Performances. Matt Dillon is better then this film, but he gives his all in this movie, and it shows. He can play intense with the best of them, and I loved it when he went all maniacal. Columbus Short is actually pretty solid as the lead. I didn't think I'd buy him as much as I did, but he pulled it off. He has a lot of potential in his career. Laurence Fishburne slums it here, and doesn't have that big of a role as you may think. Fred Ward is wasted in his role. Milo Ventimiglia plays a cop briefly, then a shot-wound victim, not much of a part to play. He did as best as he could. Skeet Ulrich is OK and nothing more.Bottom line. Armored was much better then I expected, considering I dislike heist movies. It's a well-polished B-movie, and a fairly entertaining one at that. It's not something I'll ever see again, or ever rush out to see. But it was a decent time-waster, and it's perfect afternoon fodder when you have no activities to do. Worth a look 6/10