Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Stephen Dorff in This 'XXX' Type Action: Slight But Amusing, February 8, 2005
Not a great action, but still slick and entertaining in its own way enough, the titles 'Steal' (aka 'Riders') tell you all. It's about the charming (so they think) young boys and girls who steal, or rob, and who can ride, or do some extreme sports while running away. Picture to yourself 'XXX' without Vin and Samuel, and you will get a close image of this French film shot in Montreal, Canada.
The stars are, Stephen Dorff (as the leader of the thieves), Natasha Henstridge (as the detective who fell for him), Bruce Payne (as the boss in the police force), Steven Berkoff with a terrible wig, who plays the role of 'Surtayne,' a preacher in a small chapel who is actually a greedy crook. That means, he is doing it again, I mean, very ridiculously hammy performance. You either leave it, or enjoy it. And the director Gerard Pires is from France, the one behind the camera of the original 'TAXI,' a huge hit in France, which spawned two sequels and a Hollywood remake.
The plot is non-existent like 'XXX.' Well, that's about the four young thieves led by Dorff who is so charming that during the bank robbery the girls can look at him adoringly even at gunpoint. And when they run away form the police, they don't run -- they roller skate in the street, like ninjas.
But someone knows their identity, and that someone starts to threaten them. To make things more complicated, another guy knows the truths, too, so the young nice-looking leader Slim (it's Dorff's character) and his friends have to think of the way to get out of the difficulty.
MY ADVICE: Don't think while watching. The dialogues are often silly, the situations impossible. Acting? Forget about it. All I can say about the film is it's far, far better than watching 'Fear Dot Com' or 'SFW,' both of which did great harm to Stephen Dorff's career. And as to Ms. Henstrige, who is as beautiful as ever, and Payne as typecast as ever, you can easily imagine what they would do in this film. In short, nothing new.
THE BEST PART is its stunts. As in the original Frnech 'TAXI,' the director gives us well-choreographed action scenes with stylish photography. It's certainly a rare thing for us to watch a huge truck keep on running completely lopsided to the right. Kudos to the first-rate stunt crew.
'Steal' (or 'Riders') is exactly the film you enjoy watching, drinking beer and eating popcorn. You will spend the amusing 85 minutes, and that's all. But that's not a bad experience after all.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
one of the worst movies of all time, January 14, 2009
If you like films that have terrible acting, a ridiculous script, incredibly useless dialogue that only an imbecile could make up and if you don't mind wasting about 80 minutes of your life then this garbage is for you. I only watched this movie because Natasha Henstridge is in it but even her beauty isn't worth the excruciating banality of this embarrassment to cinema. Do yourself a favor and pass on this one.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Big Flaws But Watchable, August 2, 2006
I won't waste time going over the things other reviewers have shared about the film. I'm a woman so I don't care too much for chase films. I am a HUGE Stephen Dorff fan and you probably have to be that or a guy to like this, LOL! Steal is an okay film. It could be much better in several areas:
The plot was decent but there is a such thing as being too flashy and having too much unneeded action. I think Steal goes way too far with the special effects. I would have rather seen trained stunt skaters do their thing then all the unneccessary computer stunts.
The relationship between Slim (Dorff) and Karen( Henstridge) was laughable. They had chemistry but the story was too short to actually follow through with a decent romance. I think the audience was cheated with this part of the film. I would have rather seen a more drawn out romance than to see all of that wasted action. You could never tell how Slim and Karen really felt about each other because their characters showed no real emotion towards the romance. You can't tell if they are really in love or just out to get one over on each other.
Hendstridge's Karen seemed to be only after sex which was totally unrealistic for any police woman who seemed to only want to nail these thieves in the first place. She does however nail Slim in the steamroom (no pun intended ) in the most pitiful wannabe sex scene I have ever seen. At this point I was wondering if she was a cop or prostitute. Her actions made no sense and were disrespectful to the character's true motive. The film's writer should have ditched the romance between Slim and Karen because it didn't lead to anything. ESPECIALLY when Slim already had a girlfriend. Slim and Karen falling for each other even just for sex was way too unbelievable to me. Also I couldn't buy anyone in Slim's crew as smart I am sorry. I mean Slim is supposed to be a mastermind at robbing places yet he can't figure out that Karen is a cop on his tail even though she pops up everywhere he goes? Films need to stop dumbing down the men and adding more suspense! Dorff did okay but the fact is that you didn't know what the heck these characters were really like! The film gave no background information to go on at all about the people. It just started and ended about as fast as it began, leaving the audience as clueless as when the movie started.
The dialogue was laughable at times. When Karen's sexist superior says, " You're a determined little vixen aren't you? " I was like, " What? " This didn't even fit and was one of MANY dumb and embarrassing dialogue moves. Karen wasn't realistic as a police woman at all. What policewoman sleeps with the crook she's investigating AND puts up with the slimy remarks of some Lieutenant? On one hand Karen acted like she was so tough yet she let the men in this film run all over her. I would have enjoyed a tougher and more realistic detective. Natasha was good in the role but the writing messed up her ability to do anything to bring Karen out. Plus they only showed Karen about six times in the film! And Natasha is supposed to be one of the lead stars?!!!!
I think we all agree that the length was the worst about this film. I mean, 84 minutes? You couldn't think of anything else to add in here? They should have focused on better relationships and let us get to know the characters without all the hoopla they threw in for kicks.
Okay it may look like I am blasting this film but I am not. It's OKAY especially for Stephen Dorff. Maybe Steal is his way to making decent movies again. He's had a hard four or five years but Steal was ten times better than any film he's made since 2000.
If you like people chasing after each other in the same old hyped up heist plot with some other cliche' elements(that I won't mention so that I don't spoil it for folks who haven't seen it yet) then you will love this. But I wouldn't pay the regular price for it. I got it for $5.00 in Amazon's used section. If I had paid the regular price I would have been sitting with my head in the toilet right now. Steal is worth at least one look if you can overlook it's many flaws or if you're completely obsessed with Stephen Dorff like me.
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