Gritty. Grimy. Twisty. Turny.
“Caught Stealing,” a dramatic thriller starring Austin Butler, is typical Darren Aronofsky getting down in the muck of a situation to give a film a sense of reality.
This film, though not without flaws, is no different. Aronofsky, directing from a script adapted from Charlie Huston’s novel, puts its lead character Hank Thompson — a former baseball phenom — through hell courtesy of a bunch of shady New York City underworld characters in 1998.
Hank (Butler), once a top prospect in the 1987 Major League Baseball draft before a car accident ended his dream, has traded his small Northern California hometown for life as a bartender in New York. He still cheers for his beloved San Francisco Giants and still longs for that dream that got away.
Austin Butler stars in Darren Aronofsky’s “Caught Stealing,” opening in theaters Friday, Aug. 29.
His life becomes much more of a nightmare, however, when his neighbor, Russell (an unrecognizable Matt Smith of “Doctor Who” fame), asks him to take care of his cat. A couple of days later, an unsavory Russian organized crime types show up looking for Russell, who’s jetted off to London to see to his ailing father, just as Hank is entering Russell’s apartment looking for cat food.
They assume Hank knows his neighbor’s business – a huge assumption – and when he can’t answer any questions, they promptly beat him to a pulp costing him a kidney. Thankfully he has Yvonne (Zoe Kravitz) at his side. She serves as a nurse and a voice of reason, suggesting the borderline alcoholic get his life together.
In all fairness, he’s trying. Fate, however, won’t let him.
The Russians prove to be relentless and when he eventually enlists the aid of New York police Det. Roman (the formidable Regina King), she promptly warns him that where there are overzealous Russians. Their business partners in the drug trade, more zealous Orthodox Jews in the persons of brothers Shmully (Vincent D’Onofrio) and Lipa (Liev Schreiber), follow.
Hank’s time in Hell is prolonged. Eventually he finds himself tied up in all of their business when Russ returns to explain it all.
The lure in “Caught Stealing” is seeing just how Hank is going to get out of a jam not of his own making and it proves to be a messy, violent trip with plenty of collateral damage. But beneath the violent veneer is something more.
Aronofsky and Huston take the opportunity to explore the circular nature of life and contemplate moving on after making seemingly fatal mistakes.
Zoe Kravitz, left, and Austin Butler star in Darren Aronofsky’s “Caught Stealing,” opening in theaters Friday, Aug. 29.
He’s extremely effective in exploring the topic and in doing so explores the humanity and motives of his characters.
That’s especially the case for Hank, a role that Butler, who continues to impress with his choices in projects, inhabits. In some respects, Hank is like a lost puppy, he’s naïve and oblivious to anything but his past mistakes. Butler delivers the performance necessary to convey that.
He receives plenty of help with a stellar supporting cast as Oscar-winner King (“If Beale Street Could Talk,” “Watchmen”) provides her usual gravitas with a formidable performance. And
Ultimately, Aronofsky and his collaborators deliver a satisfying, flawed thriller that possesses more than what’s on the surface.
George M. Thomas covers a myriad of things including sports and pop culture, but mostly sports, he thinks, for the Beacon Journal.
Review
Movie: “Caught Stealing”
Cast: Austin Butler, Regina Davis, Vincent D’Onofrio, Liev Schreiber
Directed by: Darren Aronofsky
Running time: 1 hour 47 minutes
Rated: R for strong violent content, pervasive language, some sexuality/nudity and brief drug use.
Grade: B
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Austin Butler gets down and dirty in ‘Caught Stealing’ | Review
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