To Steal from a Thief (2016)

Daniel Calparsoro's last one (2016) results to be ¨100 Años De Perdón¨ with all-star-cast as Luis Tosar , Jose Coronado , Raul Arevalo and his wife Patricia Vico . A Spanish crime film called To Steal from a Thief (originally Cien Años De Perdón in Spain) about six armed men in disguise try to steal a bank , but they're really after the contents of safety deposit box 314 , which actually doesn't contain what they think it does . Moving heist thriller filled with intense set-pieces , nail-biting action and swiftly paced . This exciting movie contains thrills , noisy action , intrigue and spectacular final . In Valencia takes place a bank robbing , it is carried out by a bunch of cunning delinquents led by three thieves called El Uruguayo (Rodrigo Serna) , Gallego (Luis Tosar) and Loco (Furrier) , all of them stalk a bank in a metropolis city , Valencia , to rob as many safety boxes as possible and later flee through a dug tunnel that communicates the building with an abandoned subway station . The takers must scramble a lot of twisted incidents , risks , dangers and violence . However, the press officer of the Prime Minister discovers what the thieves are actually after : they want to get their hands on box 314 that has dark secrets . The safe box contains an information that it would to be shake a country . At the same time , the CNI agents attempt to take the information before the robbers escape with it . The bad's schemes begin to go awry , plus to discover that the box really doesn't have documents , but an external hard drive full of data about important names in all levels of the Spanish politicians . They try to rise above their circumstances by any means available to them . Not only that, but the government wants to stop them and the rainwater floods their getaway route .This is a thrilling narration of an exciting bank assault with exceptionally fine camera work , attractive sequences , moving escapes and ending crashes . The title of the movie is a reference about a popular Spanish proverb: ¨Those who steals a thief, will have a hundred years of pardon¨. The picture mingles action-packed , drama , exciting underwater scenes , suspense , and spectacular sequences though won't mean much on little screen TV . This is a tricky little thriller about a coordinated bank robbery that gets worse when the tunnel is flooded by heavy rain , leaving them with no fleeing . This hold-up film is covered by political incidents as well as corruption , as the safe box results to be ownership of Gonzalo Soriano , a previous member of the government who slipped into a coma after a severe accident and left documents with compromising information . Stirring movie results to be a nice yarn well set in a rainy big city , Valencia . In fact , filmmaker Daniel Calparsoro dedicated this movie to ¨Valencia¨ . Pulse-quickening thriller movie but plenty of clichés and lots of violence , including punches , slaps , heavy blows , kick-asses and bloody shooting . The peculiar as well as tight-knit trio , Luis Tosar , Rodrigo De la Serna and Raúl Arévalo are the real stars of this movie . Other chief excitements about the picture , will be in the intervention of a good plethora of Spanish/Argentinean actors who realize professionally competent interpretations such as : Patricia Vico , Joaquín Furriel , Marian Álvarez , Luis Callejo , Miquel Fernández , Joaquin Climent , María Molins and Alfredo Villa , Calparsoro's fetish actor. Special mention for José Coronado as a fixer of the government receives the mission to assume the control of the negotiations, looking for recover at any cost the box .Colorful and appropriate cinematography by Joseph M. Civit , being well set on a rainy morning in Valencia , and shot in Canary Islands , Buenos Aires , Valencia by cameraman Josep M. Civit who is one of the best Spanish cameramen , as he has demonstrated in "The Hidden Face" , ¨Shiver¨, ¨Warriors¨ , ¨The Absent" ,¨Anguish¨ and many others . Stimulating as well as pulsating musical score by Nacho Mastretta and Najwajean-Najwa Nimri . This is another superbly powerful thriller movie being compellingly directed Daniel Calparsoro , the filmmaking is competent though the story eventually run out of gas . It was well realized by Calparsoro in similar vein to his precedent film as ¨Invasor¨ , a splendid thriller mostly set in Irak war . His best film was ¨Warriors¨ or ¨Guerreros¨ , another warlike film brilliantly made by Daniel and dealing with ¨Kosovo¨ war . Daniel was raised in Donostia , that's why most films are set in Basque country . Daniel uses to work with his spouses , as his first wife , Najawa Nimri composes his scores and played in ¨Salto a Vacio¨ , ¨Pasajes¨ , ¨Asfalto¨ , ¨A Ciegas¨ ; and his second one , Patricia Vico , performed in ¨La Ira¨ and this one . Calparsoro is an expert on action and violent dramas , such as : 2013 ¨Combustion¨ starred by Alex Gonzalez and Alberto Amman , 2012 ¨Invasor¨ also starred by Albert Ammann , 2005 ¨Ausentes¨ , 2000 ¨Asfalto¨ , 1997 ¨A Ciegas¨ , 1996 ¨Pasajes¨ , 1995 ¨Salto a Vacío¨ . Furthermore , he has realized TV series and episodes , such as ¨Inocentes¨, ¨Apaches¨ , ¨La Ira¨, ¨El Castigo¨. This flick ¨100 Años De Perdon¨ will appeal to adrenaline lovers and those young people looking for strong emotions . This is the kind of film in which the thriller enthusiasts will enjoy immensely , it's a must see .

The premise sounds awfully similar 2008's Roger Donaldson - Jason Statham flick 'The Bank Job'. A heist at a bank. Safe deposit boxes are targeted. A political conspiracy is involved. But the thriller works better when it sticks to the perspectives of the (rather small-time) perpetrators led by Uruguayan (Rodrigo de la Serna) and Gallego (Luis Tosar), than the Spanish secret-service or the Press office of the Prime Minister.I'd say that the director Daniel Calparsoro struggles to maintain the tempo during the latter portions of the film, largely due to the introduction of too many characters (in the form of negotiators, PRs and the like, not adding a great deal to the central plot). As a result, the movie engages when the ever-reliable Tosar and fiery De La Serna take center-stage. The problems never seem to cease for the burglars: the weather is giving them a hard-time plotting their escape; the negotiators are mercurial, their plans keep changing with the advance of time and there's an "idiot" (in the form of Loco) in the group, persistently screwing things up.There are quite a few factors worthy of applause - like the way Tosar's character finds a soft-corner for the good-looking manager, how they manage to hold themselves together in spite of various instances of mismanagement, the treatment of Loco's character (who's having the hots for a lady employee at the bank, to the point of gifting her some of the spoils from their burglary), the exciting phone conversations and face-offs between Uruguayan(& Gallego) and the negotiators. Yet, the grand finale looks stretched and overstuffed with too many angles taken into account. The characters who represent the secret- service and the Press office unfortunately do not carry a sense of urgency and always come up short whenever they share screen-space with De La Serna and Tosar. As such, the climax is not one that awes. While I'd hoped for an intrinsic fall-out to occur within the gang, the director only teased hints and shoved the idea soon after. The twists required to make a film such as this more pulpy, are lacking (especially towards the climax portions). Verdict: Worth seeing for Tosar and De la Serna!

Sometimes things do not go according to plan. In movies more often then not. Now if you're about to commit a crime, then movies may be one of the venues where there is a chance of you succeeding. Then again, because it's all scripted, you don't actually achieved anything. Well anything else than entertain your audience right? Which is not an easy thing to do. But this movie also tries to go one more step and add an additional note to the mix.Maybe that is not your thing and you want just a heist movie. But hopefully you'll enjoy it, even with its flaws. It's nicely acted and while not perfect, it does achieve to keep your suspense high enough until the end of the movie. The action scenes are good too

I went to the cinema to watch this movie as soon as I knew that Luis Tosar was in it, since he is hands down the best Spanish actor these days. My expectations were not too high about the movie itself, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a good thriller with a hint of comedy. Actually, the acting in this film is so good that the comedy moments fit naturally, without being too artificial nor relying on corny jokes. The actors are so natural and the script is so well written, that in some scenes you just need to laugh out loud. About the actors, Luis Tosar is great as always, but Rodrigo De la Serna is absolutely superb. He nails every scene he's in. I hope to see much more of him in the near future, since for me, both actors are the main reason why I liked this film so much. It is so easy to empathize with these two bank robbers. Joaquin Furriel also stands out, giving a brilliant performance. The rest of the cast was very good in general, with the only exception of the female lead. In my opinion, her acting was mediocre at best; I would have loved to see Marian Alvarez doing her part instead. But that is basically the only flaw in the casting, in my opinion. As to the plot, I found it very solid (I was not specifically looking for plot holes; there might be some, but they go unnoticed). The movie is thrilling, and it's entertaining. Will I watch this movie again? Absolutely.