Bullet Points: The Final Heist
A French Canadian action film set in Montreal, Quebec? Yes, please! Or should I say oui, s’il vous plait. No, I am going to stick with the English and luckily for me the 1991 action movie The Final Heist does also. Let’s take a look.
- Cat Burglar – The Final Heist opens with over five minutes without any dialogue, letting the action speak for itself. We learn that the man we see breaking into a large mansion and absconding with a Monet is David King (Jan-Michael Vincent, The Mechanic). Turns out that King is actually working for an insurance company to recover stolen paintings, but since it is not all legal everything is very secretive and not actually above board. King plans for this to be his final job so he can spend time with his daughter, but do you really think this is going to be his final heist?
- Artsy Folk – King works for Phillipe Cameron (Tom Rack, Wild Thing) but like I said, not everything is kosher in his dealings and the insurance company sends Gabrielle Delon (Gabrielle Lazure) to investigate. If you think that there is a) going to be lots of mystery on who is involved with what and b) serious sexual tension between David and Gabrielle you can award yourself two points. In my personal opinion, there was a little too much time spent on it, but The Final Heist gotta The Final Heist.
- Vincent – Just when things were getting “is this an action movie or not” territory, a couple of Montreal toughs beat up David out of nowhere. When he gets home he finds his daughter Gillian has been kidnapped with a VHS ransom note (I told you it was from 1991 didn’t I?). I don’t want to see anything bad happen to children, but I was a little excited when Gillian got kidnapped because it moved The Final Heist into high gear. Plus Gillian seemed really happy on the ransom video. In order to get Gillian back, David must steal a self portrait of Vincent Van Gogh from a Montreal art museum… or in other words, one final heist!
- Heist Heist Baby – David only has 48 hours to get the painting and The Final Heist really makes it look like it is easy to steal a painting, if you know the right people. It also doesn’t hurt to have the really cool gadgets like David. Once David gets back to his house with the painting he makes the complete rookie mistake of hiding the painting in the oven. I suppose he was distracted by Gabrielle coming over (she was the one who turned on the oven without knowing about the painting) followed by the cops, followed by pool table sex. Don’t worry too much, the painting was a fake and now we have more intrigue.
- Twist – David and Gabrielle assume Phillipe is behind the switch, but when he turns up dead their theory goes right out the window. There is an obvious person behind the whole plot, but it is only obvious because the movie tries to make it not obvious, but you are not fooling me, The Final Heist. It is fun to see how everyone was involved, even if some are foreshadowed. You will have to watch to see how it ends, but more than one person made their final heist… if you know what I mean.
The Final Heist is about what you would expect when you hear of a French Canadian action movie, but it is in English. The main reason to watch is Jan-Michael Vincent, who even past his prime certainly did not mail it in as David King. The story centered around the art world in Montreal made for a unique setting and The Final Heist was better for it. These The Final Heist Bullet Points are better off with some The Final Heist Bonus Bullet Points at the end.
- Also Known As – French speaking Canadians might know the movie as L’étrange rançon.
- If You Ever… – Wanted to see a romantic motorcycle with sidecar ride than The Final Heist is for you.
- Famous Canadian Nicety Quote? – “C’mon fat boy.”
- Familiar Faces – Vlasta Vrana plays Laviere a cop investigating the paint theft. I always remember him in C.A.T. Squad which also has The Final Heist actor Michael Sinelikoff. I remember Sinelikoff from If Looks Could Kill which also stars Tom Rack.
