Armored

Stars: Columbus Short, Matt Dillon, Laurence Fishburne, Skeet Ulrich, Amaury Nolasco, Fred Ward, Jean Reno, Milo Ventimiglia

Director: Nimrod Antal

Five security guards decide to turn criminal and heist the $420 million payload they're scheduled to take on their next assignment. A sixth, Ty (Short) is initially resistant but, faced with losing his brother to a foster-home and behind in his mortgage payments, he reluctantly agrees.

What could go wrong? Well, of course, plenty, or we wouldn't have a movie, albeit one that runs under 90 minutes and looks, from the narrative, as if it might have had chunks removed before general release - though it's never clear how the guys hoped to pull all this off in the first place.

Anyway, once in their abandoned warehouse hideaway, they're spotted by the derelict building's resident tramp, who's dispatched with a shotgun by trigger-happy Baines (Fishburne, taking a break from CSI). Ty wants out and locks himself in the security van.

While the other five try to remove the pins from the van's self-locking doors, a snoopy policeman, hearing the siren Ty has briefly triggered, is shot by Baines. Bag-of-nerves Dobbs (Ulrich) is similarly dispatched after trying to help Ty, and it all escalates to an explosive conclusion.

Routine in every department, the film will still do the job for those seeking uncomplicated action fare.

David Quinlan

USA 2009. UK Distributor: Sony (Screen Gems). Colour by deluxe.
89 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 12A.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 0, Swearing 1.

Review date: 16 Jan 2010