July 3, 2009
Review - " The Code " - (on DVD) By Roland Hansen
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The Code follows Antonio Banderas as he rob some guys on a subway train, relieving them of their precious diamond
possessions. However, Morgan Freeman's character is on the same train, apparently eyeing the same job. Things that are
apparent are generally wrong in twist filled heist movies and it is laid out pretty quickly that Freeman was watching Banderas
earlier than this robbery in anticipation of talking the man into pulling a heist with him. Of course it is some grand impossible
job involving tight security and in this case a lot of crooked, mean Russians. Toss in a kidnapping of Ripley's Goddaughter
as played by Radha Mitchell and double her as Antonia Banderas' love interest and you've got your movie.
First off: the acting. Not bad. I like Radha Mitchell. Antonio
Banderas was not too annoying. He seems more at home
playing Alexandra’s “Latin Lover” than a crafty thief. Morgan
Freeman is silky-smooth in his performance. He seems born to
play a thief. Morgan is so believable that you could very easily
just see him slipping in and out of someplace with a bag full of
valuables. Freeman was great when delivering lines like: 'I was
born to steal shit." Actors Robert Forster and Rade Serbedzija
both have crucial roles in the movie as well, and like the leads
do a fairly stand up job.
The Code was directed by Mimi Leder, who's last venture
outside of television directing was the 2000 drama "Pay It
Forward." As far as heist movies go they do not give us
anything we haven’t seen in any other heist movie. After a
target has been picked, we watch as the thieves develop and
practice their in-depth plan to get in and out with their prize.
The barriers to a thief’s success are always the same, lots of cameras and laser systems. When will banks and museums
learn that cameras and laser systems don’t work???? How many times do we have to see the same old trick where a thief
pipes in a video of an empty hallway, elevator or vault into the guards station while they rob the place blind???
There are several lame "formula" moments in the plot, as well as some cliché moments that don't logically work. Actually
once one of the main twists are revealed there are several glaring issues that don't make much sense involving the opening
sequence and some gun play. However, I won't ruin anything for you because you may be a Freeman or Banderas fan and

The Code (Thick as Thieves)
Directed By Mimi Leder
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Anotnio Banderas, Radha Mitchell
"The Code": Thieves Antonio Banderas and Morgan Freeman team up for a heist.
(listed as "Thick as Thieves" on IMDb at the current time of this writing.) However,
Code is it's name on the Dvd case, which you don't need to decipher any codes to
guess why this movie skipped the theatrical run and came to the video store.
Actually, you may be perplexed seeing Morgan Freeman and Antonio Banderas
on the cover; aren't they A list enough? Perhaps my review will help explain.
Code follows Antonio Banderas as he rob some guys on a subway train, relieving
them of their precious diamond possessions. However, Morgan Freeman's
character is on the same train, apparently eyeing the same job. Things that are
apparent are generally wrong in twist filled heist movies and it is laid out pretty
quickly that Freeman was watching Banderas earlier than this robbery in
anticipation of talking the man into pulling a heist with him. Of course it is some
grand impossible job involving tight security and in this case a lot of crooked,
mean Russians. Toss in a kidnapping of Ripley's Goddaughter as played by
Radha Mitchell and double her as Antonia Banderas' love interest and you've got
your movie.



wish to see this for yourself. Actually, I think you should
decide to be a Radha Mitchell fan because she is uniquely
sexy in this flick.
The ultimate twists of the movie are actually good stuff.
This movie would be mediocre if it were not for these nice
twists to the plot. The problem is the slow formula
unwinding down to that point with all the useless filler
material means you could walk away from the movie, miss
at least half an hour of it, and come back to the end not
feeling like you missed a single thing. Code is just not on
par with other heist movies that have made it to the big
screen such as "Entrapment" (which it put me in mind of)
or even "The Great Train Robbery".