The Score (2001)
Heist films are a dime a dozen in today’s world. Think of a scheme, get the crew, fool the players. The Score is one of the few that is actually pulled off quite well. To start off you’ve got a great cast of actors in Robert De Niro, Edward Norton and the mastful Marlon Brando. De Niro is a lifetime “scorer” who works under Marlon Brando. Through association De Niro is set up with Norton who is a low key rookie scorer. De Niro from the bat does not get along with Norton and he sees him as incompetent almost. Norton slowly has to gain De Niro’s respect through the art of their work. Both De Niro and Norton are skilled very well in their fortes. This film also has a sense of human element involved in it i.e; relationships (De Niro and his girlfriend) De Niro views this heist as the last big score then he is done. Norton however is very young and greedy and is not about to give up that easily. Two scenes that stuck out in my mind the most were 1st off: the “pool scene” between De Niro and Brando. De Niro visits Brando at his house and Brando is lounging in an empty hot tub accompanied by an empty pool. I feel as though the empty pool resembles what Brando has now in his life. Emptiness at his old age. One day that pool was full of water, luscious women, etc. now it is just empty just like the life of Brando. Too old battered down to maintain anything. The other scene is when De Niro is parked in his car outside a bar watching people unload kegs of beer. He is on the phone with his girlfriend and you can feel the sense of distance between the two. While talking a keg falls down on the ground and explodes open slowly spitting out beer. This represents how De Niro’s personal life is slowly crumbling and with one last mess up it will all spill out.
The best acting in the film in my opinion goes to Norton. He is one of the most underrated actors of our generation. The second best hands down has to go to Brando. Simple phrases and situations are turned legendary by Brando. Great to see one of his last films encompass his true talent.
The ending of the film is quite suspenseful at time. Minutes of silence accompanied by great subtext and directing. The writing of this film was excellent to contain such intricacies. Frank Oz did a wonderful job of directing this piece of work. He handled the star studded cast quite nicely. There are two twists to the end of the film that are executed well. I am a fan of the ending and think it couldn’t of ended any other way. Do yourself a favor. Check out The Score.
Rating: 8.5/10
