Armored (2009)

Ty Barnett (Columbus Short) is a decorated veteran of the war in Iraq, trying to take care of his unruly teenage brother, Jimmy (Andre Jamal Kinney), following the untimely death of their parents. He’s also trying to keep a roof over their heads, but he’s saddled with a double mortgage and the bank is running out of patience. Luckily, his close friend and Jimmy’s godfather, Mike Cochrane (Matt Dillon), has helped him land a job working together for an armored car service. This is the setup for Armored, an economical action thriller that, despite its flaws, works surprisingly well.

With all the guarding duties, weaponry, and methodical watchfulness, this job seems a perfect fit for Ty. The boss (Fred Ward) is quite pleased to have a young veteran on his staff, although he can’t offer any extra shifts to the eager and financially worried Ty. He’s welcomed — though not without a bit of hazing — by the other guards on the staff, including Cochrane’s loudmouth partner, Baines (Laurence Fishburne), and another three-man armored team (Jean Reno, Amaury Nolasco, Skeet Ulrich). They put Ty through his paces with a mock robbery, then regale him with tales of attempted robberies of armored cars in the past.

Eventually, Cochrane brings Ty into his confidence and lets him in on a secret — these five guards plan to stage a fake hijacking and robbery on the day of a large cash transport. Ty would make it six. He’s understandably hesitant about the whole idea, but a threat from the child welfare office, and the prospect of financial security by stealing from the same bank that’s threatening him with foreclosure, force him to reconsider. Ty wants assurance that he won’t end up in jail, and that no one will be hurt. Cochrane makes that promise, reiterating that “there are no bad guys…only good guys” in this scheme.

Of course, from the moment the promise is made, the audience knows it won’t be fulfilled, and that the heist will not go as smoothly as initially planned. This dirty half-dozen soon realize that in a “no bad guys” scenario like this, the bad guys still show up — within their own gang. Unanticipated witnesses, knee-jerk reactions, and guilt-ridden reversals all contribute to making their caper spin wildly out of control.

Armored, pared down to barely 90 minutes in length, spends its first half-hour building this premise in rather cookie-cutter fashion. Apart from Ty, the individual characters are barely sketches, and the dialogue is nothing if not predictable. The most compelling reason to keep watching seems to be the possibility of seeing the inner workings of armored cars and their crews in action, along with the anticipation that this “victimless” crime is doomed, reminiscent of the great book and film, A Simple Plan.

Once the heist begins, the script takes a somewhat surprising structural turn, confining nearly all the rest of the film in and around a single location, an abandoned factory where the thieves have less than an hour to hide the money and stage their own hijacking. Echoing but not mimicking another robbery aftermath film, Reservoir Dogs, the men betray and turn on each other as their true characters begin to surface. And we do get to see armored cars in action, as the gang tries to break into one of the cars while one man, trapped inside, tries to use whatever he can find to avert his own doom.

This ticking-clock scenario, in near-real time, is cleverly built and explored, aided by an interesting ensemble cast. Columbus Short is believable as the conflicted Ty, and Matt Dillon does a fine job treading a very thin line between caring, supportive friend and methodical, ruthless criminal. Laurence Fishburne roars through his part with a ferocity I haven’t witnessed since he played Ike Turner. Jean Reno thankfully returns to his criminal comfort zone, redeeming himself after his awkward appearance in the recent dud Couples Retreat. It was particularly pleasing to see Amaury Nolasco, who as Sucre was one of the best things about the TV series Prison Break; he’s similarly great here, and hopefully his star will continue to rise. Armored also features good work from Skeet Ulrich as another doubter within the gang, and Milo Ventimiglia (from TV’s Heroes) as an unfortunately too-inquisitive cop.

The movie has some rough edges to it — the direction is pedantic and uninspiring much of the time, it’s wildly overscored even for an action film, and the fates of many of the characters are swiftly and poorly resolved. Perhaps too much was left on the cutting room floor. But for all those faults, the core story and characters remain more interesting than anticipated. Armored manages to have a glimmer of smarts about it, and considering most action movies these days, that’s a rare surprise.

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