The Hurricane Heist film review: natural disaster meets robbery in stupid action thriller

1/5 stars

Ever wondered what happens to used banknotes after they are taken out of circulation? They are shipped in their hundreds of millions to remote government installations, where they are shredded. Or at least according to The Hurricane Heist, an incredibly stupid thriller.

When a corrupt treasury officer (Ralph Ineson) knocks off one such facility in rural Alabama, just as an off the charts hurricane happens to sweep in from the Gulf, it falls to his double-crossed partner (Maggie Grace) and an emotionally damaged meteorologist, Will (Toby Kebbell), to save the day.

The storm also reunites Will with his estranged brother, Breeze (Ryan Kwanten), who is still reeling from the death of their storm chaser father. While Will followed his dad’s calling, Breeze joined the Marines and now wallows at the bottom of a bourbon bottle. These are the film’s best written characters.

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Director Rob Cohen is best known for kick-starting both the Fast and the Furious and xXx franchises, and is no stranger to a high-concept action thriller. But this natural disaster/bank heist mash-up stretches the bounds of plausibility, even by his own outrageous standards.

Shot in Bulgaria with a hodgepodge assortment of Britons and Australians filling out the cast, the film boasts only modestly effective effects work. The dialogue is cliched and riddled with excess explanation, while the terrain, devastated by wind and flood, is clean and dry moments later. There’s also a skull in the storm motif that defies explanation.

To call The Hurricane Heist a disaster seems unfair to inclement weather. It just blows.

The Hurricane Heist opens on March 15

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