With the proverbial bases “juiced,” it's now merely a matter of execution. Can Moore and Caine pair up to create a gem? Serviceable is a more apt description. Flawless is the quintessential heist movie, replete with a David vs. Goliath match up, corporate sleaziness, and personal motive. (“Just money? Nothing important ever is.”)
The production excels in a couple of facets, those being appearance and sound. The supporting cast (Lambert Wilson as Finch, Derren Nesbitt as Sinclair) capably establishes the elegance the movie so naturally wants to create, with gentlemen wearing well-tailored suits (London Diamond is strictly a man’s world), distinguished looking (and ever-present) cigarette smoking, and sophisticated sounding English accents. In the latter’s case, Moore’s diluted British enunciation is explained away be subtly pointing out that Quinn is American born. Intentional or not, this biographical detail translates into giving Moore license to regrettably alternate between accents at her held-up leisure.
British director Michael Radford (The Merchant of Venice, 2004) composes a period piece that’s sufficiently atmospheric. Filmed in flat looking blues, grays, and browns, the goings on have a regal look. Granted, it's not; it feels suspiciously like a remake of a film from the era it depicts. All the same, it pays homage to the debonair mannerisms of the original Ocean’s Eleven (1960) and The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), and the modern stealthy heist-iness of each film’s respective remake, The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) and Ocean’s Eleven (2001).
The risk of the robbery. The reward of getting away with it. Through it all, be it Flawless’ Demi Moore, or in the erstwhile persons of Angie Dickinson, Faye Dunaway, Julia Roberts, and Rene Russo, one woman’s steely capacity inside a man’s world.
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