Ty Hackett (Columbus Short - Stomp The Yard) is struggling to make ends meet. He has returned home from fighting for his country and has taken a job in the same armored security firm his father worked at before he died. His godfather Mike (Matt Dillon - There's Something About Mary) still works there and he gets on well with him as he looks out for Ty and his little brother. They are losing their house and Ty is trying to take double shifts to cover the mounting bills but its hard graft shifting the debt.
Mike and his crew of guards Quinn (Jean Reno - Leon), Baines (Laurence Fishburne - The Matrix), Dobbs (Skeet Ulrich - Scream) and Palmer (Amaury Nolasco - Prison Break) all have a ingenious plan to rip off one of their own armored trucks and pretend that they got ambushed. They will then hide the money and wait for the heat to die down before splitting the $42 million in cash between them. Ty is a man of principals and flat out refuses to be part of this at first. But as the pressure mounts on him and his brother he reluctantly agrees to take part in the heist. With Mike promising that no-one would get hurt because there aren't any actual bad guys, the crew go about executing their plan until a few unforseen circumstances throw a spanner in the works and things start to get very complicated.
Armored marks a return to the classic heist movies of the 80's and early 90's. It's an unashamed action movie that relies on it's simple but effective premise to grip your attention throughout. It's managed to also assemble a fantastic cast of action heroes to really make this film worthy of a watch, even if the story gets a tad ridiculous in places.
Soon, it becomes very clear that things aren't going to work out as clearly as Mike and his crew would have wanted and it's at that point where you need to be able to leave your logic at the door. If you do, you'll enjoy the second half of Armored a lot more.
The action is top notch and the plot will be familiar to most film-fans but with some genuine curve-balls thrown in for good measure. It definitely adds some new spins to the classic heist movie genre and these plot devices do enough to make Armored an enjoyable ride to take.
Columbus Short does brilliantly as Ty, the ex-soldier who has to think on his feet. Matt Dillon has never really convinced me of his acting credentials (for every Crash I raise you a Wild Things, Deuces Wild and Employee Of The Month) but he does well on this occasion. Laurence Fishburne looks to have aged a lot since the last Matrix film but his unhinged portrayal of Baines is funny. Screen legend Jean Reno is always watchable as is Skeet Ulrich and Prison Break's Sucre does ok with his limited side role. There is even time for Fred Ward and Heroes star Milo Ventimiglia to pop up in some important cameo roles too.
With a fantastic cast and a classic story that brings with it some genuine surprises, Armored is an enjoyable way to spend a slender 88mins. Whilst there are huge plot holes it doesn't distract too much from the action-packed mayhem on show and with a few nifty twists and turns, the story does leave you guessing which route it will take and that's a good thing. Just don't be surprised if you have a stack of glaringly obvious, unanswered questions after the credits roll.
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