No Sudden Move

Evie Totty: “It ruled.”

By Steven Soderbergh. I would say that 'that's all you need to know' - but there are a few films of his that I didn't care for (well, namely Solaris that I hated) and penned by Ed Solomon (Men in Black and the Now You See Me & Bill and Ted series).

Note: I did give it an 'It Ruled', - but on my own scale of 'I want my money back, See it, & See it Again and Again', it rates a 'See it'

But I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Classic Soderbergh where you don't really quite know where it's going nor what is going to happen. I also enjoyed seeing Don Cheedle heading up a film AND being the first name listed. Here is a blurb from a Time review:

But watching Cheadle may be the movie’s biggest pleasure. In one stunningly quiet scene, Goynes picks up a suitcase he’s stashed with a woman from his past, played by Lauren LaStrada. We don’t know much about what’s happened between them. And yet, from their faces we know everything—and then we learn even more when we hear a baby crying in another room, a noisy marker of this woman’s current life, one that can’t include Goynes. No Sudden Move is great fun to watch, but in this moment, Cheadle cuts through the film’s clever jauntiness and drifts toward another movie, one that exists only between the lines of this one. Words are important in No Sudden Move. But in a scene lasting all of five minutes, Cheadle’s face tells a whole story without them.

Brendan Fraser was almost unrecognizable in this. I saw him on the screen and was like 'holy shit, is that...?' And indeed it was.

Set in 1954 Detroit during the 'Car Wars' (no idea if that was what it was called): "A group of criminals are [sic] brought together under mysterious circumstances and have to work together to uncover what's really going on when their simple job goes completely sideways."

I want to say so much more - but also want to keep it spoiler-free. This movie covers everything from infidelity to racial themes (referencing redlining and demolition of Black neighborhoods in the name of progress) to extortion to police corruption.

So if you like classic Soderbergh, you'll like this.

− July 12, 2021 • more by Evie • log in or create an account to reply