No Sudden Move (2021 | USA | 115 min | Steven Soderbergh)
What could possibly go wrong? Two low-level crooks, both near strangers to each other, are asked to “babysit” a man’s family while he retrieves some documents for their employer. Well… everything; everything can go wrong, and did, in this maze-like crime drama about the mob, murder, lies, and corruption. A couple of infamous criminals, Curt Goynes (Don Cheadle) and Ronald Russo (Benicio Del Toro), in 1950’s Detroit fall deeper and deeper into a scandal as they uncover the layers of a well-hidden secret. Attempting to use it to their advantage and up their payout, both try to double-cross their employer, the other players, and each other to come out on top. Based on a true story surrounding the automotive industry at Detroit’s height of success, No Sudden Move proves what a scuzzy industry it really was (and let’s be honest… still is).
I originally had hoped, based on the director, actors and concept, that No Sudden Move would be a dark comedy… my favorite kind, especially when a caper is involved. To my slight disappointed all the cheeky interplay and off-the-cuff sarcasm from the Ocean’s trilogy was missing in this one, so the feeling of the entire film shifted from playful to sketchy and dramatic. Not that it makes the film worse, but Soderbergh is so damn good at that, it was a definite let-down. I was looking forward to a little fun since I was watching it over the July 4th weekend. That being said, the drama kept me enthralled and while the story was slightly convoluted at times I didn’t feel like I needed to stop, rewind and rewatch to follow along.
Don Cheadle, as always, impressed and played a nuanced character that you hated to like and kinda liked to hate. In the end Goynes redeemed himself even though he never really changed his stripes. He had a mission, one that you thought was part of his same old criminal ways, but really he just wanted what was his. Along that vein, the story didn’t sweep racism under the rug like so many of its predecessors (even the Ocean’s movies didn’t really do it justice at the time). It wasn’t pushed in your face, but then the point of the film wasn’t one of race… it was greed; but the writing didn’t shy away from the fact that race was a constant and underlying factor in the oppression of and driving force behind the black and POC characters.
On a personal note, I’m more and more disgusted by these real-life stories of corrupt folks thinking they were born to rule like gods (especially white men), even though they’re easier to take in these re-imagined films rather than a documentary on the subject. I try to appreciate them as they are intended, maybe that’s why it was disappointment that it wasn’t more of a dark comedy (so I could laugh instead of seethe). They’re worth telling. Hell, they need to be told so it’ll seep in to all of our pours that those times weren’t all peaches and cream… but still. Damn.
No Sudden Move available to stream now on HBOMax