Scott Herman | Through the Shattered Lens

What’s an Insomnia File? You know how some times you just can’t get any sleep and, at about three in the morning, you’ll find yourself watching whatever you can find on cable or streaming? This feature is all about those insomnia-inspired discoveries!

If you find yourself awake later tonight, you can always go over to Tubi and watch the 2015 direct-to-video action thriller, Heist.

Heist takes place in Louisiana. Francis “The Pope” Silva (Robert De Niro) is a mobster and businessman who owns a riverboat casino. The Pope lives his life according to a set of simple but very specific rules. He doesn’t lend money. He doesn’t forgive people who betray him. If you steal from him, he will track you down and he will get his money back and he will make you regret your decision. Working as his main henchman is the sadistic Dog (Morris Chestnut). The Pope’s former main henchman was a man named Luke Vaughn (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) but Luke grew tired of the violence and walked away from it all. Now, Luke works as a dealer in The Pope’s casino. His daughter is sick and Luke desperately needs $300,000 to pay her medial bills. When The Pope refuses to give him the money, Luke teams up with security guard Jason Cox (Dave Bautista) and sets out to rob the place.

The robbery is carefully planned by Luke but, inevitably, things go wrong. A security guard shows up earlier than he was supposed to. A shootout leads to Jason’s best friend, Dante (Stephen Cyrus Sepher), getting shot. The getaway driver panics and drives off, leading to Luke, Cox, and Dante hijacking a bus. Cox orders the bus driver (D.B. Sweeney) to take them to Galveston but Luke is more concerned with getting the money to his daughter. Meanwhile, two police officers — Kris Bajos (Gina Carano) and Detective Marconi (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) — follow the bus, each pursuing their own agenda.

Considering that this film is basically a low budget rip-off of Speed (albeit without a bomb threatening to take out the cast), Heist has an impressive cast and they all do a good job of elevating the film above its B-movie origins. Don’t get me wrong. There are hundreds of plot holes to be found in Heist. The film’s big twist really doesn’t make much sense when you think about it. But, in the end, Heist is an entertaining thrill ride that moves quickly enough that most viewers really won’t have time to obsess on all the lapses of logic. Morgan plays his role with just enough heart that you want his criminal to succeed. De Niro brings some extra layers to a role that could have been a caricature. There’s a brief scene in which he meets his estranged daughter (Kate Bosworth) and, as a result, you suddenly see his character in an entirely new light. As a character who seems like a much more sinister version of Zach Morris, Mark-Paul Gosselaar keeps you guessing. And finally, Gina Carano — years before her cancellation — gives an earnest performance that works despite her character being rather inconsistently written.

Heist is an entertaining and fast-paced action film with a good cast and an interesting story. If you can’t sleep, you might as well be entertained.