Well-acted and directed, a surprisingly good action flick Plastic has hit the home video market on DVD. The movie offers its own interpretation of a several million dollar diamond heist that actually took place by a group of men in 1997. The original robbery spanned from Manchester, England to Los Angeles, CA and involving the prestigious Bijon Jewelers on Rodeo Drive. This film’s story adds a little comedy with their creative crime caper and that’s a good thing because if not, it would be just another heist movie.
The film opens with a group of college students, Sam (Ed Speleers), Fordy (Poulter), Yates (Alfie Allen) and Rafa (Sebastian De Souza), running a scam by duplicating credit cards using a special reader at a gas station. Using the cards to pay off their debt and live the high life, the guys start to branch out in other schemes. Unfortunately they inadvertently scam Marcel (Thomas Kretschmann) a very brutal mobster by stealing money from his accountant during an extortion caper. Confronting the boys with the theft of his money, Marcel gives them an out; replace all the money they took plus interest of $2 million dollars per month.
The students, who have picked up another partner Frankie (Emma Rigby), decide to pull off a mega con to pay off Marcel once and for all. Their mark is the buyer for a high class jewelry store on Miami Beach. The scheme involves impersonating a Prince who wants a special collection of jewels for his bride to be. When the idea starts to run into problems, the gang goes on the run.
Although the film does have a lot of plot holes and a little too much wind in its sails, the movie does entertain. Director Julian Gilbey keeps his film fast paced starting in London then moving the story to Miami Beach and finally finding the gang cornered in London where it all started. The student gang itself changes drastically during the film from the group with a plan, to each making plans of their own. It becomes one failed wacked out job after another putting each of the students in harm’s way.
There are some downsides to the film and include choppy scenes that do not play out well, the characters are not fleshed out to afford them much likeability and the story gets so incredibly inane at times that it becomes laughable instead of funny. But, that said, the production value does make for some good entertainment. The shootouts are realistic, the fighting well choreographed and the finale not too bad.
The most recognizable actors in the film include Ed Speelers who plays Ed in A Lonely Place to Die, Will Poulter who portrays Gally in the recent The Maze Runner, and Alfie Allen appears in John Wick as Iosef Tarasov and as Theon Greyjoy in Game of Thrones. The actors are becoming idols and each on their way to the big time.
BONUS FEATURES:
The only real extra is a “Making of” feature with several of the crew and the cast talking about their characters, stunts, filming and off the set comments. It’s especially interesting because they have an interview with one of the criminals that actually participated in the scam that happened in 1997. It’s a lot of fun watching the actors talk about each other and their director during breaks in the filming.
Plastic has been rated R by the MPAA for strong violence, sexual content/nudity, language throughout and some drug use. While most of the nudity is stylish and sometimes gratuitous, the violence comes on very strong and vicious.
Specifications and additional video information:
Cast: Ed Speleers, Will Poulter, Alfie Allen, Sebastian De Souza, Emma Rigby, Thomas Kretschmann
Director: Julian Gilbey
MPAA Rating: R for strong violence, sexual content/nudity, language throughout and some drug use
Genre: Crime/Drama/Action/Comedy
Running Time: 1 hr 42 min
Video Release Date: October 28, 2014
Original Film Release Date: September 26, 2014
Language: English (British)
Format: DVD
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
Video: Widescreen, Aspect Ratio (Letterbox) 2.35:1
Subtitles: None
Number of Discs: 1 Disc + VUDU
Distributed by: ARC Entertainment
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
