BUS 657 aka Heist

The title of the movie makes you think, ‘here comes another Hollywood action flick’. It is the Hollywood counterpart of the Tamil masala film, sometimes enjoyable, sometimes downright predictable. So, you need reasons to go watch such a movie. Robert De Niro is a good enough reason to go watch any movie, and that’s why most people came too, judging by the claps and whistles in theatre when he was introduced on screen.

The opening couple of minutes of the film tell us that this is very much a routine action flick, with a gang of masked guys hijacking a bus, and then we flashback to ‘one week earlier’! It was as if the writers had no better ideas to give the movie an interesting start. The plot is as clichéd as it can get for a Hollywood flick. Casino, lots of money, snubbed employee, seasoned criminals, and then the heist. You can see it coming miles ahead. Of course, there are reasons why one guy is joining the heist and you figure that the script will find a way to return to that reason before the end.

But, as the title tells you, the movie is not about the heist itself, but the bus that somehow gets

involved in the heist. Whether the involvement of the bus was planned or not is a cloudy area that is not answered clearly enough in the film. The heist happens very early, and much to our disappointment, it happens far too easily, without much planning at all. That is the biggest let down of Bus 657. The main act looks pretty bland and that spoils a lot of the fun that we thought we would have.

Cut to the bus and the hostage situation that ensues, we have very little surprises. It’s the same story told once again, the kind that we have seen in many movies before. But, there is one surprise, and that is the best surprise that the movie has up its sleeve, and that is the only reason Bus 657 has any identity among the sea of hostage dramas in Hollywood. But that apart, there is the usual band of cops going after the bus, trying to save the hostages, complying with the hijacker’s demands, negotiating, etc. The same drill.

The emotional content in the movie comes in the form of one of the hijacker’s family, which is why he is in this. So, naturally, he has to win the sympathies of the audiences. Jeffrey Dean Morgan does a neat job of that with his earnest expressions. There is one more thread of emotional content that is pushed in which involves Rober De Niro and his estranged daughter, which is supposed to explain some weird changes in him towards the end. But anyone who has watched films like this before knows what is coming. Dave Bautista, we are getting to see him quite regularly on screen nowadays, gets to play a control freak criminal who can’t think straight when the going gets tough. His loud ways only lead us to think that he going to land everybody in trouble. The only other person who makes a mark on screen is Gina Carano, as the cop who sees a silver lining of good in one of the hijackers.

But, we are all in it to watch Rober De Niro right? So, what’s he got to do? Precious little, and very

little where he can stamp his class. There is really nothing interesting in it for an actor of his accomplishments, but he chose to do it.

Bus 657, released as Heist in America, is as generic a con movie as it can get. Watch it if you have absolutely nothing else to do. If you like De Niro, go back and watch any of his classics, if you like good heists, go watch any of the Ocean films.

Too run of the mill to be interesting!

1.5/5