Actors: Kurt Russell, Terence Stamp, Matt Dillon, Jay Baruchel
Directors: Jonathan Sobol
Rated: R (Restricted)
Studio: ANCHOR BAY
DVD Release Date: May 6, 2014
Run Time: 90 minutes
Film: 3 out of 5 stars
Extras: 2.5 out of 5 stars
What a cast! When I saw the cover for “The Art of the Steal”, I thought that this was a film that I had to see. I had a feeling that it wouldn’t be much otherwise, I think this would have been released bigger in theaters. I was right, the film is smart, funny but lacks that real draw that films like “Ocean’s 11” or “The Italian Job” packed. Nonetheless, the film is worth checking out especially for impressive cast including Kurt Russell, Terence Stamp, Matt Dillon and Jay Baruchel.
Offical Premise: Crunch Calhoun (Kurt Russell), a third rate motorcycle daredevil and semi-reformed art thief, agrees to get back into the con game and pull off one last big art heist with his conniving brother, Nicky (Matt Dillon). Reassembling the old team, Crunch comes up with a plan to steal a priceless historical book, but the heist leads to another far riskier plan devised by Nicky. They fail to realize each other’s separate agendas when their plan goes awry in this con movie about honor, revenge and the bonds of brotherhood.
The Blu-ray is standard for this crime thriller. The 1080p transfer shows off the impressive locations otherwise, there is no high tech heists here. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is solid. In the special features, there is an audio commentary track with writer/director Jonathan Sobol and producer Nicholas Tabarrok. Lastly there are two featurettes including “Doing the Crime: Making The Art of the Steal” and “The Making of ‘The Theft of the Mona Lisa'”. Nothing too spectacular but not terrible either.