Steal

Not a great action, but still slick and entertaining in its own way enough, the titles 'Steal' (aka 'Riders') tell you all. It's about the charming (so they think) young boys and girls who steal, or rob, and who can ride, or do some extreme sports while running away. Picture to yourself 'XXX' without Vin and Samuel, and you will get a close image of this French film shot in Montreal, Canada.

The stars are, Stephen Dorff (as the leader of the thieves), Natasha Henstridge (as the detective who fell for him), Bruce Payne (as the boss in the police force), Steven Berkoff with a terrible wig, who plays the role of 'Surtayne,' a preacher in a small chapel who is actually a greedy crook. That means, he is doing it again, I mean, very ridiculously hammy performance. You either leave it, or enjoy it. And the director Gerard Pires is from France, the one behind the camera of the original 'TAXI,' a huge hit in France, which spawned two sequels and a Hollywood remake.

The plot is non-existent like 'XXX.' Well, that's about the four young thieves led by Dorff who is so charming that during the bank robbery the girls can look at him adoringly even at gunpoint. And when they run away form the police, they don't run -- they roller skate in the street, like ninjas.

But someone knows their identity, and that someone starts to threaten them. To make things more complicated, another guy knows the truths, too, so the young nice-looking leader Slim (it's Dorff's character) and his friends have to think of the way to get out of the difficulty.

MY ADVICE: Don't think while watching. The dialogues are often silly, the situations impossible. Acting? Forget about it. All I can say about the film is it's far, far better than watching 'Fear Dot Com' or 'SFW,' both of which did great harm to Stephen Dorff's career. And as to Ms. Henstrige, who is as beautiful as ever, and Payne as typecast as ever, you can easily imagine what they would do in this film. In short, nothing new.

THE BEST PART is its stunts. As in the original Frnech 'TAXI,' the director gives us well-choreographed action scenes with stylish photography. It's certainly a rare thing for us to watch a huge truck keep on running completely lopsided to the right. Kudos to the first-rate stunt crew.

'Steal' (or 'Riders') is exactly the film you enjoy watching, drinking beer and eating popcorn. You will spend the amusing 85 minutes, and that's all. But that's not a bad experience after all.

I was surprised that "STEAL" was rated low by several reviewers. It was not a high budget video but the spectacular special effects, explosions, car crashes and really classy escapes and super 18 wheelers balancing and parachuting from a 1000ft+ bridge sure held my interest and were first rate. They bad "good guys" and good "bad guys". They also had about 4 easy to follow sub-stories with two factions trying to take their ill gotten gains. This is not a "I think I will fall asleep movie". Steven Dorff pulled off a great lead character with smooth actions, great looks (per my wife) and great planning. I guessed the ending but the bad cop needed taking down was obvious. This movie is worth the bargain price or at least rent it from Amazon.

If you like films that have terrible acting, a ridiculous script, incredibly useless dialogue that only an imbecile could make up and if you don't mind wasting about 80 minutes of your life then this garbage is for you. I only watched this movie because Natasha Henstridge is in it but even her beauty isn't worth the excruciating banality of this embarrassment to cinema. Do yourself a favor and pass on this one.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 10 reviews  3.1 out of 5 stars