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THE SCORE Send This Review to a Friend
By now Marlon Brando resembles Sidney Greenstreet, which is not inappropriate given his juicy portrayal of criminal entrepreneur Max in "The Score," a gripping new caper movie. The main action falls to Robert De Niro and Edward Norton, but Brando is Brando and in each of his classy scenes he provides his vaunted charisma with sarcastic line delivery and an original touch.
The plot of "The Score," scripted by Kario Salem, Lem Dobbs and Scott Marshall Smith and directed by Frank Oz, rests on the old chestnut of a seasoned criminal pro doing just one more big job and then retiring. But when the pro is Robert De Niro as Nick, owner of a jazz joint in Montreal, the caper takes on special solidity, and when his assigned accomplice is Edward Norton as Jack, there's another jolt of electricity. Naturally, something has to go wrong, and of course, there is the obligatory final twist called for by the genre. That acknowledged, "The Score" is pulled off with riveting, high tech suspense.
Nick is a super safecracker with up-to-the-minute tools to match. De Niro projects the utmost cool even when he's worried. We get a gander at his credentials in an opening gambit in which he is robbing jewels but interrupted by a couple who want to have sex on a sofa. At stake in the more challenging job, in addition to the millions he is promised by Max if he steals a valuable scepter from its safe harbor in the Montreal Customs House, is his relationship with his longtime sweetheart, flight attendant Diane, who will only commit if he retires from crime. Angela Bassett oozes warmth, sex appeal and determination in the role of Diane, and the memory of her lingers smolderingly even though she's not on screen often.
Jack works on the inside of the Customs House as a supposedly handicapped menial, and Norton has perfected a spastic-like demeanor to fool everybody while he cases the joint and helps plan the complex break-in that involves turning off security equipment in stages to enable Nick to move about and get in the right spot to blast open the safe housing the scepter. The trouble with Jack, which Nick spots at the outset, is that he's a smart-ass. Nick lays down the rules--he's the boss. Can that stick?
The actual invasion of the Customs House is reminiscent of "Rififi," but Oz is the sort of director who relies heavily on music to pump energy into the film to bolster the suspense engendered by the situation and the complexity of the mechanics and technology. The skill of De Niro and Norton heightens the intensity. I found the ending only partially satisfying and left wondering--yes, but what will really happen when...?
Still, settle for the fun of watching these acting pros put on a whale of a good show, and besides, who wants to miss a picture with Brando in it? A Paramount Pictures release.
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