Armored

Despite a couple of good action sequences and a surprise or two, director Nimród Antal's mostly by-the-numbers heist movie features precious little tension or danger—and virtually no fun—leaving little in its favor beyond an accomplished and appealing cast that includes Fred Ward, Matt Dillon, Laurence Fishburne, and Jean Reno. Dillon plays Mike, the leader of a sextet of guards working for an armored truck company (Fishburne, Reno, and Skeet Ulrich are also part of the crew, with Ward as their boss). But the key star is Columbus Short (excellent as Little Walter in Cadillac Records), who plays newcomer Ty, an Iraq War veteran whose parents have both died, leaving him to support his troubled younger brother and somehow pay the mortgage on the home their folks left behind. Ty is a righteous dude, so when Mike (who just happens to be his godfather) and the others reveal their plan to hijack one of the company trucks and make off with its $42 million payload, Ty wants no part of it—until he goes home to discover a child welfare worker waiting at his door, threatening to put his sibling into foster care unless Ty shows that he can properly look after him. This clunky plot device is one of several served up by screenwriter James V. Simpson, who specializes in cliché-ridden dialogue and painfully predictable storytelling (don't expect to be shocked when the plan starts to go awry almost immediately). Optional, at best. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by producer Dan Farah and costars Skeet Ulrich and Milo Ventimiglia, a “Planning the Heist” making-of featurette (16 min.), a “Crash Course: Stunts” segment (12 min.), an “Armed and Underground: Production Design” featurette (7 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is a bonus digital copy of the film and the BD-Live “movieIQ” feature. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a disappointing film.] (S. Graham)