Oh, that tricky Steven Soderbergh! The real leader of the “Oceans Eleven” movies gets back together with some of his former collaborators, and writer Ed Solomon, for “No Sudden Move”, a genre exercise in the same vein, that is a reward only for those who like “complicated.”
Brendan Fraser’s Doug Jones kicks off this 1950’s Detroit-set crime thriller. Jones is a go-between who needs “babysitters” for a heist, hiring Curtis (Don Cheadle) and Ronald (Benicio Del Toro). Both have reputations and bounties on their heads in the criminal underworld. Ronald’s view of Curtis is racially antagonistic and you get the impression right away they would sell each other out for their own self-preservation.
The job they’re hired for is unexpected. They wind up in a suburban home, holding the family of GM accountant Matt (David Harbour) hostage, while the third member of this team of thieves (Kieran Culkin) must take Matt to GM offices. It becomes apparent that the job is bigger than money.
It also of course does not go as planned; people get killed, a shady Detective (Jon Hamm) is brought in to investigate, and it’s possible that the whole thing is a set-up for Curtis and Ronald by crime bosses (Ray Liotta and Bill Duke).
There is a surplus of characters that Soderbergh moves around like pieces on a chessboard. Wives, mistresses, wives who are mistresses, and GM Executives also all have hidden agendas. It’s not abnormal for main characters to disappear for a good portion of the film’s runtime, nor is it for the audience to continue to wonder who is trying to kill who and why, or is that guy working for who or himself?
The cast rightly plays their roles close to the vest; never relaying too much until the time is just right. Cheadle is the one closest to having a conscience, Del Toro’s selfishness gets laughs on occasion, and Harbour turns into more and more of a desperate man as the film rolls on.
Soderbergh’s film isn’t flashy. A lot of the dialogue takes place in quaint little homes or inside cars and it doesn’t have much action till the end. But through the use of dutch angles and “through a keyhole” type lenses, he makes you feel like you’re eavesdropping on this intriguing plot. Whether or not it all makes sense to you, in the end, is another matter.