All of the elements of a heist film are here, they just don’t come together cohesively. Most of what goes wrong is predictable – the heist team pointing the finger at each other, someone getting wounded and nearly dying, and missing money. When looking at the reason why the film doesn’t work, I go back to the fact that things keep happening too coincidentally. Certainly, films need to have something happen to get from point A to point B, but when things happen almost to undo itself, it just doesn’t make any sense.
“All of the elements of a heist film are here, they just don’t come together cohesively.”
For instance, there is a scene where the thieves, still inside the semi-trailer, are arguing. Then all of a sudden, they hear something outside. It happens to be a random civilian that is stealing parts from the diesel truck. After a brief foot chase, they catch the guy, get the piece back, and the head of the operation, Arthur (Aaron Farb) asks another one of the guys how long it will take to fix. The other character replies, “without the proper tools, it will take a while.” Less than two minutes later, it looks like the civilian that attempted to steal the part went and got some backup when a crowd of men runs towards the truck. All of a sudden, the truck starts again. Things like this make plot points seem pretty useless and happen far too often.
Despite the questionable plot points, it still has some positives. One positive is that the production of the film feels surprisingly big for an independent film. It takes place in more than just the inside of the trailer. And of course, a heist film needs action, and Among Thieves has plenty of it. It is very face-paced, which makes the story move briskly. But with all of the action, it still can’t cover up the holes in the plot.
"…things get too purposely coincidental..."
