We all love watching a grand caper unfold.
We watch with excitement as the overly complicated yet undeniably cool plan is formulated, and we are thrilled when the dominos begin to fall into place.
We revel in the wish-fulfilment aspect of it all.
A great heist movie provides all of that, and then some. There is something inherently stylish about the sub-genre.
Heist movies come in all shapes and sizes, but they share in one quality – they are almost always intoxicatingly fun.
Below are 5 of my favourite heist movies.
Honourable Mentions: Ronin, Riffifi, The Sting, Out of Sight, The Town
5. The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)
The sexiest movie on this list, or rather, on most lists; The Thomas Crown Affair is as much a sensual romantic story as it is a caper.
It is a film oozing in style, in large parts due to Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo, who share frankly outrageous chemistry here. The film also features one of Brosnan’s finest performances.
A fantastic score only adds to its style quotient. Smart, sensual and engaging, The Thomas Crown Affair is great fun.
4. Inception (2010)
The classic “one last job,” heist film, but with a mind-bending twist.
Inception is raw, untethered entertainment, shot straight from the mind of Christopher Nolan, right into our veins.
Inventive, exciting and gradually increasing in stakes, Inception is grand, intelligent blockbuster filmmaking at its finest.
A heist film set inside the mind of the mark, what’s not to love about that?
3. Inside Man (2006)
This is an uncharacteristically uncomplicated Spike Lee joint. And yet, it is one of his most purely entertaining efforts.
Clive Owen plays the archetypal mastermind, a man who is three steps ahead of everyone else – a staple of the genre. And Denzel Washington plays the coolest negotiator of all time.
The raw charisma of those two performers and the inventive and twist-laden narrative ensures that Inside Man is as clever as it is entertaining.
2. Heat (1995)
God, I love Heat. The only reason it sits at second place is that while it is, in essence, a heist film, I have always thought of it as more of a crime-drama/thriller.
Semantics aside, what can I say about Heat that hasn’t been said already?
There is much to admire about the film – the set and music design, that shootout sequence, compelling performances, but the crown jewels are undoubtedly De Niro and Pacino.
The diner scene where the two of them size each other up is what cinematic dreams are made of. God, I love Heat.
1. Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
If a movie dethrones Heat from any list that I create, you best believe it’s special. And Ocean’s Eleven is special, so wonderfully special.
Steven Soderbergh’s inventive and stylised direction, the mesmeric interplay between its incredible ensemble, crisp writing, and an undeniable yet palpable ‘cool’ factor make Ocean’s Eleven an enormously entertaining experience.
And it hasn't aged a day.
Oh, and the score is to die for. Soderbergh captured lightning in a bottle here, and neither he nor anyone else has been able to replicate the pure and utter joy that can be found in Ocean’s Eleven.
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