Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Director: Mark Steven Johnson, Defiant Screen Entertainment.
Cast: Travis Fimmel, Rachael Taylor, William Fichtner, Forest Whitaker.
A close-knit gang of unlikely thieves and their blundering ways form the crux of this scandalous true story that is finally being told. It’s a story of one of the biggest bank robberies in United States history.
In 1972, the group goes from Youngstown, Ohio, to California to break into a bank and attempt to steal $30 million in illegal contributions and blackmail money from President Richard Nixon’s secret fund. After their plan goes askew, the FBI launches one of its biggest manhunts.
The logic is: if the money is illegal, no one is going to be in a rush to solve the crime. The straightforward Enzo Rotella (Fichtner, Mom) runs the crew. He does manage to convey some life into a scene.
The other half revolves around Rotella’s selection of the driver for the team, Harry Barber (Fimmel), who loves fast cars and idolises film star Steve McQueen. He fancies himself as being a lot like the characters the actor played in his movies. He models himself after McQueen in Bullitt.
Finding Steve McQueen starts the momentum in 1980. After having been on the run for eight years, Barber sees his face on an FBI Most Wanted poster and decides to come clean and tell his girlfriend Molly Murphy (Taylor) about his past. He’s been operating under another name.
Director Johnson (Ghost Rider, Daredevil) doesn’t quite have the ideal formula, but manages to stop the heist story from being insipid by mixing it with a average love story to create an agreeable end product. It’s a rousing, feel-good adventure.
To be a winner, all you have to do is answer this simple question: who fancies himself as being a lot like the characters actor Steve McQueen portrayed in his movies? If you’re answer is correct, you could win one of three DVDs of Finding Steve McQueen.
