DVD Review: The Hurricane Heist

The Hurricane Heist
[DVD Hurricane]

This film starts off with an action-packed flashback to Hurricane Andrew, and doesn’t let up on the action for more than a few moments from that point onward. Co-written by a team of writers, and directed by Rob Cohen (creator of the Fast & The Furious film series), this film is a caper wrapped in a disaster story.

Will (Toby Kebbell) and Breeze (Ryan Kwanten) are two brothers who lived through the trauma of Hurricane Andrew that killed their father back in 1992. Will has gone on to become a meteorologist, working in the field in a specially-designed vehicle to track and study storm cells. Breeze has become a mechanical engineer. when a new 2018 Hurricane “Tammy” threatens their hometown, Will is eager to study it, and Breeze is lackadaisical and willing to evacuate like the rest of the town’s populace. Meanwhile, Casey (Maggie Grace) is a federal officer working at the nearby Federal Mint facility that is responsible for shredding over $600,000,000 in old bills that have been gathered at the site — only the shredder has broken down.

Turns out…that’s part of a big-time heist scheme designed to allow a team of bad guys to come into the mint and steal the money under the cover of the town’s hurricane evacuation. Casey, who’s left the facility to get Breeze (as a contracted repairman) tumbles to the scheme and escapes the bad guys, then teams up with Will to try to figure out how to rescue Breeze (and the other mint staff) and foil the heist. All while one of the worst hurricanes in U.S. history is raging around them.

The acting is terrific across the board in this film. I wasn’t familiar at all with either of the actors playing the brothers, and knew Maggie Grace only from the TV series LOST. Ben Cross and Ralph Ineson, as two of the “bad guys” were both recognizable, but otherwise it was a cast of “unknowns”, which was refreshing.

The stunt-work and physical effects work were intensive, as was the CGI. For me the level of believability for The Hurricane Heist was pretty much nil, but that didn’t bother me — this was a film where you turn your logical brain off and just get carried along by the plot/action. It was a lot of fun.

I particularly enjoyed watching the special features on this disc. Among them, there are interviews with director Rob Cohen, who share some unflinchingly honest comments about the state of Hollywood movie-making today.

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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