Darren Aronofsky’s “Caught Stealing” is an at-times entertaining but mostly dull action thriller that tackles the question: “must we deal with the past to move forward in the present?” In “Caught Stealing”, Aronofsky is attempting somewhat of a career shift, changing directions from psychological thrillers to the more “fun” genre of action thrillers while keeping his strong world-building and rich characters. It’s a noteworthy effort, but ultimately falls flat, lacking a lot of the fun he seemed to be going for and the thematic depth of his previous catalogue. “Caught Stealing” is based on the book of the same name, with the screenplay being adapted by its original author Charlie Huston.
Hank Thompson (played by Austin Butler) is a former baseball player turned bartender who, along with his girlfriend Yvonne (played by Zoë Kravitz), gets caught up in a gang war when their punk neighbor Russ (played by Matt Smith) asks them to cat sit while he’s gone. Their eyes are opened to a world of Russian gangsters, dirty cops, Jewish murderers and also musician Bad Bunny playing a Puerto Rican club owner (for some reason).
If you’re familiar with Aronofsky’s other work, you may be expecting a tense, grimy psychological movie, but “Caught Stealing” is none of that. While it does have some interesting tense moments, the film is mostly just a husk of a more fun movie lifelessly dancing through trite action sequences, lazy flashbacks and eye-rolling exposition dumps. It starts off as a classic cat and mouse story, but somewhere along the way becomes so convoluted and confused that in the theater my eyes started to glaze over and I was just wondering how much I had left to sit through.
Austin Butler carries the film on his back, delivering a great performance as a broken man still suffering from the trauma of his youth, just trying his best. Zoë Kravitz is the heart of the movie, with actors Regina King and Matt Smith doing all they can with what they’re given. Technically speaking, the film is great. The cinematography, score, set design and stunts all work in tandem extremely well. There are a few drone shots in the film that are unlike anything I’ve seen.
Taking it at face value, “Caught Stealing” is a perfectly serviceable film, delivering an entertaining action thriller. This may just be me having too high of expectations, but the biggest disappointment to me is when comparing it to Aronofsky’s other films like “Black Swan”, “Requiem for a Dream” and “The Whale”. There’s something so special about those films, all of them depicting such disturbing events, but being unable to look away from. “Caught Stealing” is missing the dirt stuck under the nails of his other work, the inherent filth woven into every line. It feels so scrubbed clean and polished in comparison. It feels like there is no reason to watch the film; it doesn’t give the audience anything new or interesting to sink their teeth into.
The themes of consequences and trauma are all underbaked and lackluster. There’s (spoiler alert) one interesting scene in the third act where Austin Butler’s character finally breaks down from all of the pressure that’s been building inside him for years. It’s a raw moment of finally seeing the true feelings of this character that puts all these walls up, but it’s immediately abandoned to push the plot forward.
Through its ups and downs, “Caught Stealing” never shines but it’s also never egregiously terrible. However, the worst part, the absolute worst thing about this movie, is that it’s forgettable. It’s not even a good enough time to be fun bad. I’d rate it 2/5 stars. If you were interested in seeing it, I’d recommend waiting until it’s streaming somewhere. Otherwise, you can skip it.
Note from the reporter: Despite “Caught Stealing” not being my thing whatsoever, I still applaud Aronofsky for doing something different than his other films, even though it didn’t work for me. I’d so much rather watch this film than some giant blockbuster slop “algorithmically designed” to be a perfect viewing experience. I will always stand behind artists trying something different, even if the art is bad. In the time of AI domination and corporate monopolies, I urge everyone to consume art made by and for real humans. If anything is to come from this review, I hope that you go to an actual movie theater to watch an independent movie. And if you are an artist scared to try something different, remember: “Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure.” — George Edward Woodberry
