Soderbergh returns to Out of Sight<\/em>\u2019s Detroit for this crime film, but this time, he sets the action decades earlier in the Midwestern city, in 1954. A seemingly simple job organized by Jones (Brendan Fraser) brings together three criminals, but it certainly doesn\u2019t unite them. Curt Goynes (Don Cheadle) and Ronald Russo (Benicio Del Toro) are assigned with watching the Wertz family (Amy Seimetz, Noah Jupe, and Lucy Holt), while Charley (Kieran Culkin) escorts their patriarch, Matt (David Harbour), to steal a document from his boss\u2019s safe. Jones gives little information, leaving Curt and Russo scrambling as the opaque plan begins to unravel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Solomon\u2019s screenplay is dense with plot, filled with infidelities, mob connections, double-crosses, and enough significant characters to populate a jury box plus alternates. In their second collaboration after the TV series Mosaic<\/em>, the director and writer take clear pleasure in elaborate plotting. Like Soderbergh\u2019s previous films in the genre, it necessitates multiple viewings, with layer upon layer of details that might get lost after watching it just once \u2014 you\u2019ve got to make that HBO Max subscription worth it, right? However, even if you don\u2019t catch everything the first time, No Sudden Move<\/em> is still on par with Soderbergh\u2019s best work in the last decade. Every detail seems appropriate to its historical and geographical setting, but the film refrains from being showy or reveling in nostalgia. Wide-angle lenses capture the action, with Dutch tilts serving as both a nod to the time and as part of Soderbergh\u2019s usual technique as cinematographer (credited, as always, as Peter Andrews). <\/p>\n\n\n\n The MacGuffin at the heart of the movie \u2014 that mysterious document in the boss\u2019s safe \u2014 at first appears as immaterial as it would be in a similar genre film, with a character even asking, \u201cWhat fucking difference does it make?\u201d in reference to what seems like a just a sheaf of papers. However, the document is significant here, playing into the movie\u2019s larger commentary on organized crime, capitalism, and those the system intentionally leaves behind. Quick references to redlining and the bulldozing of Black neighborhoods almost seem like throwaways, but their significance to the plot and to the lives of characters like Cheadle\u2019s Curt is clear. It\u2019s in line with the approach in Soderbergh\u2019s criminally underseen High Flying Bird<\/em>, a sneakily heist-like sports film with a lot more on its mind than just a score. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Cheadle plays in a different register in No Sudden Move<\/em> than he generally works in, literally lowering his voice and almost matching the deep thrum of the bass in David Holmes\u2019 jazzy score, and it\u2019s a blast to see this familiar actor doing something that feels new. Del Toro\u2019s Russo and Culkin\u2019s Charlie feel like less of a stretch for the actors, but I\u2019m not complaining about seeing these two talents right in their respective wheelhouses. The rest of the cast \u2014 particularly jittery housewife Seimetz, as well as Fraser, Jon Hamm, Ray Liotta, Julia Fox, and Bill Duke \u2014 feel perfectly suited for their roles, while still offering a jolt of delight at their every appearance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While No Sudden Move <\/em>isn\u2019t as light as the usual Soderbergh heist film, its narrative and thematic complexity reward the audience for their efforts in untangling its packed plot. This movie intentionally doesn\u2019t offer the pure dopamine hit of Ocean\u2019s Eleven<\/em>, but Soderbergh\u2019s ability to play so broadly within a single genre is just as thrilling. “No Sudden Move” streams Thursday on HBO Max<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/no-sudden2-1024x576.jpg\")
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