King of Thieves

KING OF THIEVES (15)

D: James Marsh

Studiocanal/Working Title (Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Ali Jaafar & Michelle Wright)

UK 2018

108 mins

Crime/Drama

W: Joe Penhall

DP: Danny Cohen

Ed: Nick Moore & Jinx Godfrey

Mus: Benjamin Wallfisch

Michael Caine (Brian Reader), Jim Broadbent (Terry Perkins), Ray Winstone (Danny Jones), Tom Courtenay (John Kenny Collins), Charlie Cox (Basil), Paul Whitehouse (Carl Wood), Michael Gambon (Billy 'The Fish' Lincoln)

Aka The Over-The-Hill Mob, King Of Thieves reconstructs the events surrounding the robbery of a Hatton Garden safe deposit, where over £200 million was stolen in cash, gold, jewellery and diamonds, of which some has still not been recovered.

Michael Caine is the leader of the group and he is joined by a cadre of elderly, experienced thieves with the only young member of the criminals portrayed by Charlie Cox as an alarm systems expert.

As a crime caper, the film only has one joke of "the thieves are old" which is beaten to death. However, as a reconstruction of events, it's quite well done and maintains interest over the running time.

Of the cast members, Michael Caine and Ray Winstone do their usual, while Jim Broadbent is very much against type as a right 'orrible c**t.

Reasonably well helmed by James Marsh, it isn't the finest heist movie you'll ever see, but it is a good timekiller.

6/10