211 (2018)

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This messy, short thriller plays like a rejected Paul Haggis/"Crash" story.

Four mercenaries in Afghanistan are owed over a million dollars after a former boss does them wrong. Interpol Agent Rossi (Alexandra Dinu) is hot on their trail, following them back to Massachusetts, where they plan on knocking over one of the banks that their money was transferred to. First problem: when money is transferred internationally to a bank, the actual physical amount of cash doesn't magically appear at that bank. Take it from a former bank teller, it doesn't work like that. As the men get ready to storm the bank, we are introduced to a very large cast of characters whose lives will all cross that day. Retiring cop Mike (Nicolas Cage), his son-in-law/partner Steve (Dwayne Cameron), and his estranged daughter Lisa (Sophie Skelton) are one part of the puzzle. Kenny (Michael Rainey Jr.) is a bullied teen who must ride along with Mike and Steve after a misunderstanding at school while Kenny's medical professional mother (Shari Watson) worries. Rossi also hangs around the periphery, flashing an Interpol badge can get you into a lot of places in fictional Chesterford, Massachusetts, and assorted younger cop characters make their presence known. Everyone's stories converge in a boring, "Heat"-inspired shootout.

Nicolas Cage liked to sign up for these types of straight-to-video films on a weekly basis, and while it's big fun for Cage fans, some of these are a chore for the casual moviegoer. The script is confusing, and the different locations used do not mesh- a Massachusetts cafe explosion looks European set, but in the same town, the Massachusetts bank robbery looks American- right down to Louisiana license plates on some of the cars, and the title is a police radio call number from California. I'm sure the screenwriter(s?)- another odd credit- had something bigger in mind but the film limps along full of some terrible performances from a cast given tropes, not characters, to play. Come on, the harried police commander (Mark Basnight) who's getting pressured from the mayor and governor? The retiring cop? The young cop whose wife is expecting? War profiteering mercenaries? The stupid hostage who must make a break for it? The bullied teen smarter than his peers? Yawn.

Throw this on the pile of other Cage pablum, a film that was obviously done for the paycheck.

Stats:
(2018) 86 min. (*) out of five stars
-Directed by York Alec Shackleton
-Screenplay by John Rebus based on a screenplay by York Alec Shackleton
-Cast: Nicolas Cage, Mark Basnight, Shari Watson, Alexandra Dinu, Dwayne Cameron, Michael Rainey Jr., Sophie Skelton, Weston Cage, Cory Hardrict, Ori Pfeffer, Amanda Cerny, Michael Bellisario, Raymond Steers, Derek Horse
(R)