Entrapment (1999)

Millennium heist flick with Sean Connery, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Catherine’s derrière Gin, an insurance agent with the curious skills of a cat burglar (Catherine Zeta-Jones), is sent by her employer (Will Patton) to wiggle into the company of aging British master-thief “Mac” MacDougal (Sean Connery). He tentatively accepts her but insists on arduous training before stealing a priceless Chinese mask from the well-guarded Bedford Palace. Their developing attraction and suspicion threaten to ruin their partnership but the lure of $8 billion from a heist at the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, maintains their alliance. I usually don’t like heist flicks (because I’m not interested in the glorification of criminals), but the charisma of Connery and the beauty of Zeta-Jones keeps “Entrapment” (1999) interesting, not to mention the all-around stylish and kinetic filmmaking. Mac's hideout, an isolated castle in Scotland, is an unexpected attraction. The movie’s similar in tone to the contemporaneous “Eye of the Beholder” (1999), but without the pall of moody gloom and sleaze. The first 70 minutes are surprisingly entertaining before slumping for 20 minutes, but the film thankfully recovers for the thrilling and twisty last act. “Entrapment” is famous for iconic stills of Catherine acrobatically maneuvering her way through a laser security system, which showcase her heightened derrière. She’s a beautiful woman and these sequences are certainly highlights. Yet you could hardly call them pornographic since she’s fully clothed and, while her outfit might be tight, it’s not exactly skintight. Concerning the mild controversy over the dubious attraction of Mac (Connery) and Gin (Zeta-Jones), Connery was 68 when "Entrapment" was shot, but Mac is 60 in the story. Catherine was almost 30 during shooting, but looks & acts 35. So their age-difference is roughly 25 years, which isn’t anything unheard of. Moreover, men are naturally attracted to younger women and Gin is a full-fledged whoa-man, not a teenager or even 20-something. Mac may have been 60, but he was charismatic, intelligent, virile and very much young at heart; so it’s no wonder Gin was attracted to him. Lastly, being attracted to someone isn't the same as wanting to marry the person or even have sex. You can be naturally attracted to someone, but dismiss any further entanglement for numerous reasons, such as you're married, s/he is married, s/he is too young, s/he is too old, you prefer being single, etc. The film runs 1 hour, 53 minutes and was shot in England, Scotland (Duart Castle & Eilean Donan Castle), Malaysia and New York City. Ving Rhames costars as Mac’s covert ally. GRADE: B

**Entrapment is a quality heist film with high stakes and great twists that overcomes its strange romantic moments.** Entrapment showcases clever heists, stunning leads, and beautiful locations resulting in a well-crafted and entertaining heist film. The question of “Who is playing who?” constantly has the viewer guessing what twists could come and wondering what each character is really up to. The first half of the movie is stronger than the second. The planning of the first heist and its execution have great pacing and intrigue. After all that, the second half of the movie, which is supposed to be the bigger and more difficult heist, feels rushed and less satisfying. And let’s just say it, the awkward romance between Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones when he is nearly 40 years older and 69 at the time of Entrapment’s release is CRINGE. They could have taken the father/daughter or mentor/student relationship and kept it from being weird. All in all, Entrapment is a solid entry in the heist genre because of the effort, planning, and prep behind each robbery and great performances from the beautiful Catherine Zeta-Jones and the classic Sean Connery.

I quite enjoyed this cyber-crime caper - the two stars have a chemistry that largely gets past the slightly fluffy dialogue and far-fetched plot. Catherine Zeta-Jones is, ostensibly, an insurance operative sent to help catch arch thief "Mac" (Sean Connery) once a valuable Rembrandt is taken from an seemingly impregnable high-rise office. It transpires that she has other fish to fry, however, and before long the poacher and the gamekeeper have a grand design to commit the creme de la creme of computer hacks without getting caught. It's at it's best during the heist planning stages, though sadly falls away a bit during a rather poorly constructed last twenty minutes that also introduces a romance that I found a bit cheesy. A pretty wooden Ving Rhames features - luckily, quite sparingly - as a duplicitous FBI agent but Maury Chaykin is really quite good as the odious, sexually ambiguous fixer "Conrad Greene". Worth a watch.