Perfectly adequate/largely unnecessary, an All-Pro caper pic that never seems to matter or build up much suspense, yet demands attention as Marlon Brando’s last film. Apparently enjoying the kind of ‘old smoothie’ role reserved for aging lions with a past, he’s surprisingly mobile under the girth, radiating bonhomie (hey, we’re in Montreal) setting up a 'Mission Impossible' Art Theft (priceless 17th Century French scepter) under high-tech ultra-lock in basement storage at the Montreal Customs House. Young upstart thief Edward Norton’s been casing the joint for months, hiding in plain sight as a handicapped maintenance worker and Robert De Niro is the world class second-story man, a safe-cracker reluctantly taking his first job below ground level . . . also his last. He’s getting out of the game to please Angela Bassett, a regular singer at his jazz club, tired of waiting for him to go straight. None of this even faintly believable, which would be fine if more was going on with caper or characters; the twists mostly mild, until the final two which are (one) entirely guessable and (two) hard to swallow. Ending with the fastest coda on record, as if everyone cashed the last paycheck and cleared out. On a tightly scheduled/well-paid project like this, the real caper is the film.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: After LAST TANGO IN PARIS/’72, Brando packed on the pounds and became largely unwilling (unable?) to take acting seriously anymore; amusing himself on set (and off) with impossible demands & behavior, perhaps just to see what he could get away with. How to value something that came so easily to him? Here, refusing to take direction from Frank Oz, and generally referring to him by his famous alter ego, Miss Piggy.
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