Braquage final

I wanted to like this Spanish heist thriller a lot as I adore the director's REC and SLEEP TIGHT, but sadly there are too many problems here for it to work. Which is a surprise as heist films are usually easy to make and enjoy. I was put off by Freddie Highmore, who seems to be channelling the autistic doctor he plays in another show, and the female Burn Gorman lookalike fails to impress too. The old timers do better but are given little to do. The vault itself is ridiculously designed and veers more into fantasy than real life, and the science is deeply flawed too. This is a film that works best when the thrills are realistic and there are some good suspense bits, just not enough of them.

Freddie Highmore, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey, Sam Riley, Famke Janssen, and Liam Cunningham star in "The Vault," also titled "Way Down."

A young genius engineer, Thom (Highmore) is brought in by a wreck recovery operation, run by a man named Walter, to break into the Bank of Spain's safe to steal a lost treasure which, after Walter's incredible recovery work, will go to the British government if it isn't stolen in time. There are no blueprints and a tight security system.

Once Thom devises a plan, the team will have 105 minutes to complete it, while Spain is immersed in the 2010 Football World Cup final, when the security system will face the crowd of 500,000 watching a giant screen.

I love heist movies, and this one, completely outlandish, made for fun and exciting viewing and was highly entertaining.

When you're dealing with heist films, criticizing them for not being realistic spoils the fun. If you want realism, watch a documentary.

It was good, really well directed and shot, but the story is nothing new. It's basically a tamed down shortened movie version of Money Heist, but not nearly as cleverly or suspensefully written. Plus I feel Freddie Highmore was a poor casting choice. I kept expecting some dumb equations to pop up like they do in the lame TV series he's in, The Good Doctor. Plus he still had that lost-in-space duh look.

I found this to be far better than most Netflix movies. A good story line that keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout. Follows a fairly basic heist movie formula, but there is a reason for the formula, it works! Definitely a good watch.

The first half of the film grabs your interest with intrigue and slick production, but too many holes in the script later, loses you. It's a gorgeously shot caper film, but tries too hard to be cool, and someone should have spent more time plugging those story holes, as one's interest drains by the end.