The Vault

Good Sunday afternoon fodder

Bits of unneeded romance and a meh double-twist are the only hiccups (and small ones at that) in this solid, no-frills heist thriller. The planned deceptions are fun and well-crafted with just the right amount of wrenches thrown in, and the intertwining of it all with the World Cup excitement was a nice added touch. I was waiting for some more noble motivations for both Thom and the crew to make themselves plain but in the end, leaving it with the chaotic-neutral "passion" felt refreshing.

There's a lot of belief to suspend, but the quick-moving heist antics do all the heavy lifting. There's every delicious thrill you could ask for—the narrow successes, the nail-biting suspense, the clever improvisations—plus a predictable romance and an uninspired betrayal, but I suppose those are par for the course. Genuinely engaging.

A fairly entertaining heist-thriller that doesn’t aim for realism in the least. The R rating is also a bit puzzling as the film is more than light enough for a teen audience. There’s better out there, but if you need a simple heist film to turn your brain off for, this’ll do.

Heist during the World Cup is a neat concept, but so many plot holes relating to the Vault, like why does it trigger when they open it with the keys? So much hinges on the one concept. But I have seen worse heist movies.

Kind of a filmmaking miracle how it touches everything you expect -- the planning, the high stakes, the music vignettes, the twists -- and still feels and plays fun and exciting as hell, maybe because nothing could sound boring when a World Cup final is unfolding on the background.

Second tier for a lot of things but still entertaining. The actual vault made no sense.

Entertainment: 4. Spirit: 0. Sustainability: 0. Family: 1.5

Cunningham is amazing as always but despite them clearly going for a naive socially awkward lead character, Highmore still feels miscast to me; he never demonstrates appropriate emotions for his scenarios. Fairly predictable but still fair heist movie.

not so good

A passable heist movie that has everything you would expect in one. Over-complicated plot, tension between the crack team of criminals, the one last score. You know what you're getting as soon as the MacGuffin makes its appearance. The one novel aspect is the location filming during Spain's journey to the 2010 World Cup.

Doesn't stand-out among the classic heist flicks, but feels inspired enough for an evenings entertainment. Cool to see Freddie Highmore do a more mature oriented role too. By far the highlight of this thing, but it's a little hard to shake off The Good Doctor persona of his.