The dry, drab and disappointing would-be crime thriller “Heist 88” is a prime example of a movie that has all the right ingredients on the table but fails to create an appetizing entrée at nearly every turn. It’s a film that initially intrigues but quickly loses its way — and ends so abruptly it almost feels like everyone lost interest and decided it was time to go home.
As reported earlier in a Sun-Times article more entertaining than the movie, “Heist 88” is loosely based on the true story of Armand Moore and the audacious but failed bank heist he masterminded in Chicago in 1988, when he tried to wire tens of millions of dollars from First National Bank of Chicago to phony overseas accounts. That’s some juicy source material, and with the great Courtney B. Vance in the lead role and a terrific supporting cast of familiar veterans and promising young talents joining him for the film shoot in Chicago, there was ample reason for optimism.
