Flawless (2007)

9 Responses to Flawless (2007)

1. baldrick2dogs says:

   October 5, 2008 at 12:00 am

   The film dragged on a bit for me.

   I was watching and web surfing at the same time – never a good sign.

   A reasonable plot but despite a couple of big names it was poorlyplayed out and lacked a little 'oomph' to keep my attention. I'm notlooking for a car chase, a shoot out or a joke or two, just somethingto grab my attention and say "wow, that was good"

   Spoiler time: . . Stop reading now . .

   Paying 100 million to get 100 million of diamonds back – silly! But thebig spoiler … The REALLY big spoiler … What a twist at the end -the VERY end!!! Saved it from being a 5 for me )
2. Roland E. Zwick (magneteach@aol.com) says:

   October 19, 2008 at 12:00 am

   Set in London in 1960, the aptly named "Flawless" features Demi Mooreas Laura Quinn, the first woman to become senior negotiator at Lon Di,the world's premier diamond firm. However, Quinn has pretty much hitthe glass ceiling career-wise with the company, and when she discoversthat she is about to be let go from the firm, she agrees to join forceswith the night janitor (Michael Caine) in his plan to rob the vault ofa thermos-full of uncut diamonds.

   "Flawless" is a good old-fashioned caper tale done with an abundance ofwit, intelligence and style and just enough twists and turns in theplot to keep the audience on its toes throughout. Moore and Caine makea perfect team as the duo plotting the heist, while director MichaelRadford generates enough suspense for a dozen average thrillers. Thescript by Edward Anderson even manages to squeeze in some points aboutearly '60's feminism and South African apartheid along the way.

   Definitely worth seeing.
3. collipal-1 says:

   November 6, 2008 at 12:00 am

   I did not have too much expectations for Flawless because the heistmovies are like a cliché.The only reason I went to see it was because Iknew Michael Caine,one of my favourite actors,appeared on thisfilm.But,when the movie ended,I was very satisfied.Flawless resulted tobe a very good thriller.The best element from this film is theingenious screenplay.It is very well structured and there are sometwists which make the movie really unpredictable.It also makes a goodcharacter development.I am not a fan of Demi Moore but I admitthat,with the correct director and material,she can be a competentactress,as we can see on this movie.Caine,as always,brings a brilliantperformance.The fails I found on this movie are two.There are some plotholes and,before leading to the satisfactory ending,the movie makes atrick.I would have preferred to see that trick on a less conventionalway.But,in spite of that,Flawless is a very entertaining andinteresting thriller which tells an ingenious story.I took a nicesurprise with this movie.
4. Neil Turner says:

   November 7, 2008 at 12:00 am

   Flawless is a slick, classy, and enjoyable lark of a film. It is a verygood imitation of a classic crime caper film of the Sixties.

   The setting is 1960's London. Most of the action takes place in anultra-modern office building that houses the largest diamond exchangein the world. Laura Quinn is the only woman who has achieved a highrank in the company, and she thinks that she is bound to continue herupward climb. Little does she know that she is about to crash headfirst into the glass ceiling.

   Mr. Hobbs is the friendly, old night janitor who greets Laura with asmile every evening as she slaves at her desk long after her malecounterparts have left for home or the local bistro. Hobbs is one ofthose invisible people who knows where all the bodies are buried, andhe – for good reason – lets Laura in on the fact that she is about tobe one of those bodies.

   When Laura discovers that her fellow managers and bosses are gettingready to use all of her hard work for their own selfish advantage andcut her out of the loop, it is easy for Hobbs to convince her to helphim with his plan to burgle diamonds from the company's giant safe.Laura knows that such a theft would go undiscovered for a long periodof time because of the sheer volume of raw diamonds kept in the safe.She decides to take her revenge and help Hobbs with his plan.

   From that point on, things go exactly as Hobbs had planned, but not atall the way that Laura had predicted creating tension and a mysterythat powers the last half of the film.

   Laura is played to perfection by Demi Moore for she has the actingpower to create a hard driving career woman of 1960 with just the rightamount of vendibility.

   Michael Caine is Mr. Hobbs. This veteran actor is a real pleasure towatch – especially when he is playing a wry old bloke with just theright amount a humor and larceny. Caine is a genuine delight in thisfilm Flawless is beautifully produced and photographed. The sets are agrand tribute to that gaudy 1960's style of architecture anddecoration. Demi Moore's costumes are perfection, and the whole thingis photographed in the saturated colors of the '60's.

   This film is an entertaining treat providing an hour and a half of goodold fashioned fun, suspense, and mystery.
5. writers_reign says:

   November 28, 2008 at 12:00 am

   It's a miserable day here in London and among the week's new releasesonly two are even worth considering, Clint Eastwood's Changeling andMichael Radford's Flawless. In the end the weather tips it; Changelingis a long haul and 'serious' I'll catch it later; Flawless is lighter,Radford directed Il Postino and the excellent French actor LambertWilson has a supporting role. For a miserable London day it'sdefinitely out of the right bottle; a 'heist' entry with an improbablepairing in Demi Moore and Michael Caine. There's also an element of'locked door' mystery about it as we try to figure out how a lone andaged janitor (Caine)managed to steal literally millions of pounds worthof diamonds virtually undetected. For one thing the logistics areawesome, it would need a fleet of trucks just to handle the bulk. Allis revealed of course and for good measure Moore hits on the solutionby chance. Everyone manages to get out their lines without bumping intothe furniture which is more or less all that is required of them andit's all as polished as one of its diamonds.
6. Van Roberts (zardoz@bellsouth.net) says:

   November 28, 2008 at 12:00 am

   The heist thriller "Flawless" concerns not so much the planning andexecution of a master crime as it does the scandalous hysteria thaterupts in the wake of the theft of 100-million pounds worth ofdiamonds. "Il Postino" director Michael Radford and scenarist EdwardAnderson have contrived a cold, antiseptic, humor-free, 1960'speriod-piece crime caper that is polished, but pallid. No, "Flawless"is neither "Rififi" (1954) nor "Topkapi" (1964). "Flawless" won't makeyour palms perspire in dreadful anticipation. This is a heist moviewhere the organization wallows in such corruption itself that we don'tcare if they get taken to the cleaners and if some of their executivestake a fatal plunge. The London Diamonds Corporation acquires itsstones under shady circumstances that the movie "Blood Diamond"explored with greater depth and melodrama.

   The two protagonists, Demi Moore and Michael Caine, are as dull as dishrags. We sympathize about their respective plights. He has agrief-stricken history involving a wife who died from cancer fifteenyears ago owing to hospital insurance complications, and she is an18-year executive at the Diamond company whose gender works against herin a man's world. The two have struggled their entire lives against anunfair system. Women will lament the sexual discrimination with whichthe heroine contends, and the casting of Demi Moore is apt, since shestarred in the Michael Douglas movie "Disclosure" about reverse sexualdiscrimination in the workplace. Michael Caine isn't capable ofdelivering a bad performance. Indeed, his lowly, blue collar, Al Cappcustodian is probably the only thing flawless about "Flawless."Attention-deficient audiences will lose patience with this monotonousexercise in larceny.

   "Flawless" opens appropriately enough with African-American handsdredging up uncut diamonds from mother earth, and Radford traces thepassage that the stones make from anonymity to radiate gems set in aring on a woman's hand. Indeed, it's a nice way to open a film, but"Flawless" is rather tame as heist thrillers go, and the scrupulousattention to detail that distinguishes this tale becomes tiresome. Theplot shifts gears from this opening to a present day sequence in Londonwith an elderly Laura Quinn (Demi Moore of "G.I. Jane") sitting downfor an interview about being a role model business woman. The momentthat she says she hasn't been in London for 40 years is a red herringto make us think that something else happened. Unfortunately, thismisdirection yields little in the way of anxiety. Radford transports usback to the 1960s and we see the stuffed shirts that Quinn works withas the only female executive at the London Diamonds Corporation. Asmart, successful, Oxford-educated American, she cracks herwell-coiffed cranium in futility against a glass ceiling. Quinn strikesup an unlikely acquaintance with Mr. Hobbs (Michael Caine of "TheItalian Job") who sees all and knows all as a janitor. People speakfreely around him because they discount him as a nobody. Hobbs warnsQuinn at one point that the company plans to sack her and she confirmshis information in a delightful little sequence.

   Hobbs engineers a grand scheme to steal diamonds. An amusing sequencetakes place early in the action when he invites Quinn to a cinema todiscuss the plan during a showing of the classic crime caper "TheLeague of Gentlemen" (1960) with Jack Hawkins and Richard Attenborough."The League of Gentlemen" effectively establishes a time setting.Meanwhile, the Corporation installs security surveillance cameras thatcycle in 60 second blocks to keep track of all corridors including theone in front of a huge vault door. This obstacle presents a challengethat keeps Hobbs on his toes, but overall it works to the detriment ofthe firm. The flaw is that when the Hobbs character effects entry intothe vault, the security guard is so preoccupied with his culinarydistractions that he takes his eyes off the security monitors far toolong. Meanwhile, Quinn scrambles from one phone booth to another tomake a call that will serve to distract the guard. In her haste to makethe first call, she overlooked the obvious fact that the phone cord hadbeen cut! In the long run, her contribution is disposable. The suspensethat Radford generates is mild. Ironically, technology doesn't thwartthe crime as much as human foibles. Hobbs cleans the place out and thebosses react with shock when they discover their entire inventory hasvanished.

   Later, after the crime has transpired and a well-dressed investigator,Finch (Lambert Wilson), arrives to investigate it, Radford tries tocreate tension between an anxious Quinn and an obdurate Hobbs. Hobbsrefuses to give in. Cigarette puffing Quinn dangles on tenterhooks andfears the prospect of prison. Indeed, one breathless moment occursafter the robbery, but unless you are on your toes, you may overlookit. Eventually, in the post-mortem of the crime that Radford presentsduring the final quarter, we learn how Hobbs disposed of the icewithout lugging it out the door. Unfortunately, the filmmakers musthave gambled that their reticence about the whereabouts of the missingstones would tantalize us. It doesn't. Meanwhile, we watch withoutworry as Quinn runs amok with mild-mannered hysteria trying to find theloot. Hobbs keeps his head in this crisis and emerges as the harmless,old duffer that he masquerades as, right down to his limp. No, he isn'tlike the villain of "The Usual Suspects" who was a chameleon. The otherrevelation about what our heroine's activities over the last fortyyears is bittersweet. "Flawless" refuses to let you have your cake andenjoy it, too. In other words, it isn't a lot of fun.
7. Jamie Ward says:

   November 29, 2008 at 12:00 am

   The great robbery genre is one of many formulas and techniques thathave been tested over endless arrays of such examples from the genre.In fact it seems reasonable to believe that not since the 1960's has atruly original or groundbreaking heist movie been made, all thanks tothe successes of those features. From then on in it would seem that allthat would follow would do so in the footsteps of those beforehand,learning from the mistakes and the fortunes of such efforts. While thiscan lead to a long barrage of groans and yawns from audiences who aretired of seeing the same old idea pulled off year after year, therestill remains a certain joy and excitement to behold when watching aheist that is pulled off with flare. Flawless is that kind of heistmovie; it never does anything out of the ordinary, nor does it add anytwists to the standard form of the robbery feature structure, but itnevertheless succeeds in telling an engaging story all the same.Cemented in place from two absolutely compelling performances fromMichael Caine and Demi Moore, director Michael Radford in no way craftsan innovation of the genre, but creates a solid example of why they arestill getting made the way they were forty years ago. Predictable andformulated, Flawless isn't a genuine diamond by any means, but it's afair imitation of one.

   The story here revolves around two people, both in very differentstages of their lives and even more so in their social status. LauraQuinn (Demi Moore) is a female executive of a company that buys andsells diamonds, a successful figure for the time but neverthelesstrapped in her position because of her gender which during the story'stimeframe of the early sixties, makes her an unlikely candidate forpromotion. When sixty year old janitor of the building Mr. Hobbs(Michael Caine) overhears that Quinn is soon to be released because ofa confidentiality leak regarding certain Russians, he takes it uponhimself to proposition her to take what she can while she can. Fromhere on in writer Edward Anderson opts to tell a standard, albeit verywell constructed heist story that does well to stick to the genre'sbest features. Focusing strongly on character, the act of the heistitself whilst leaving part of the job a mystery to be solved during themovie's latter half, Anderson knows that the best robbery stories oftensucceed through those three central elements. To be sure there aremajor missteps taken with his script, most of which rather irksomelyarise during the movie's final act, but for the majority of what ispresent, he and Radford do very well in convincing the audience thatthis formulaic throwback is actually worth watching.

   Part of what makes it so compelling to watch however lies mostlyoutside of the talents of the writer and director, residing within thetalents of lead stars Demi Moore and Michael Caine. Moore, who I'vealways felt was an underused and underexposed actress, nails hercharacter perfectly here, resulting in a powerful female figure thatcommands the screen every bit as much as she caresses it. Intelligent,dignified and dashed with enough hints of humiliation, Moore'scharacter serves as a the feature's central figure and the actress doesextremely well in filling the position with enough conviction andpersonality to keep things moving along. Caine, who has always beenmore suited to the supporting role in his features of late, comesacross exactly as you would expect him to. His timid janitor characterrarely breaks the actor out of his comfort zone, but Michael alwaysseems to bring a real sense of warmth and humanity to his roles that inturn help to ground whatever feature he stars in. As a duo both Caineand Moore make a formidable pair and the interplay between both isalways inviting to watch. Their characters too share a natural bonding,with both being distinctly different and yet sharing so manycharacteristics that go beyond their social façades.

   So while there is nothing remotely new or imaginative about Flawless inits design, execution or display, one can certainly take the experienceas is and simply enjoy it as such. In contrast with this year's earlierefforts (The Bank Job springs to mind), Radford's treatment to the nowoverdone genre feels somewhat trained, informed and welcome in amidstthe rubble that comes before it. Of course, there's no cause for anyoneto run to their cinema to see this; anyone who has seen a fair heistmovie has in one way or another already seen this. With elements thatare refined and poignant enough to keep the audience intrigued,Flawless is definitely a compelling piece of work; but lumbered with anall too familiar story the movie fails to resonate as much it could.Yet it goes without saying that for those who like these kinds ofmovies, Flawless should serve its purpose well enough until someonecomes and reinvents the wheel once more.

   - A review by Jamie Robert Ward (http://www.invocus.net)
8. simon-prometheus says:

   January 8, 2009 at 12:00 am

   Flawless? Not Quite, but it is certainly a little heist gem. This year,with so far a fairly disappointing turnout of high calibre movies, avery narrow niche has been reinvigorated. That little slice of thecelluloid pie (mmmm, sounds good) belongs to the British heist flick.With The Bank Job, and now with Flawless, this could mark the beginningof a revamp of all capper films to follow. Or at least we can hope.

   Directed by Michael Radford, who has had little mainstreamacknowledgment, (save perhaps the star studded Merchant of Venice)makes his shove into the limelight with a film although never destinedto make the big bucks, hopefully at least will be sought out by some.Similarly to The Bank Job, Flawless concentrates more on atmosphere andcharacter development then flashy drawn out robbery sequences, althoughthat can most defiantly be rewarding, as seen in The Italian Job. Theopening sequence is a hybrid of Blood Diamond and Lord of War, showingthe journey of a diamond from a muddy African field to a throne atop aladies dainty finger. This film has similar political views to that ofBlood Diamond, and such morals are imbedded into multiple facets of thestory. It also has elements of Pay it Forward, numerous cat and mousethrillers, even a scene reminiscent of the opening monologue ofTitanic. But as such, Flawless never rips of any of these films, andinstead, combines a number of classic elements to create a riveting andoriginal picture.

   Most heist films either follow a straightforward narrative, where wefollow key characters as they assemble their teams, and carry out thetheft or, the other broad characterization is to opt for a scatteredchronology, beginning with the hero in prison, where their fate is(sometimes) certain. Flawless manages to incorporate wisps' of boththese narrative flows, and is better off because of it. Set in 60'sLondon, we meet Michael Caine, who plays janitor "Mr Hobbs", a 15-yearveteran employee of the largest supplier of diamonds at the time, TheLondon Diamond Corporation. Still coping with the loss of his wife, herecruits the help of American Laura Quinn (Demi Moore), who is a soursenior administrator; sour because she has been passed up for promotionone too many times. (In addition to the fact that she learns she willbe terminated shortly) Using their opposite shift work and positions totheir advantage, they plan to steal enough diamonds to live their livesout in comfort.

   Demi Moore has never been much of an actress, but despite her slippingEnglish accent, she gives probably her best performance to date, fadinginto her role, and for once, playing a character that looks their age.The problem with her character is not with Moore's performance but withhow she is presented; unsympathetic and shrill. She always seemsunwilling and bitchy, which could be partly due to the stark contrastbetween Moore and her male counterpart's composure and cool. That"male" of course being Michael Caine, who is solid as always and makesfor a very atypical criminal which is part of the films charm. He issweet, old and can barely walk, but his history (which does not includetraining for a career in janitorial work) makes him a formidable foe.We get nice supporting work from the always devilish Lambert Wilson,who we all remember as The Merovingian from The Matrix Reloaded, as theinternal investigator and from Joss Ackland as one of London Diamond'sheads and who is a powerfully menacing figure. (He played Arjen Rudd,the evil African diplomat in Lethal Weapon II)

   Flawless has a good feel for the times, in reference to the setting,clothing, dialogue, etc. The inevitable twist that is associated withalmost all heist films stands alone in its uniqueness, which you willhave to see to truly understand why it is different. Director Radfordgives us some powerful sequences; one which perfectly captures thepolitical intentions of the film involves Michael Caine's charactertossing one of the largest cut diamonds in the world into a bin of tinyuncut stones, which the executives wouldn't floss their teeth with. Itis a vivid reminder of what diamonds really are, and what we arewilling to give and do for such.

   Destined to be a ghost in the theatres, this is definitely a film toscrounge for on DVD shelves. Presenting emotionally charged andinvolving performances and extracting a blind-siding twist from asource which I though must have been drained years ago, Flawless is asolid and intellectually stimulating movie experience.

   View all my reviews at Simon Says Movie Reviews:www.simonsaysmovies.blogspot.com
9. Jeannine Murrell says:

   July 12, 2010 at 4:24 pm

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