Lift

⭐️ ⭐️ (out of 5)

Short Take: The phrase comes from the film industry, originally, and it means a short bit of recording or “something that only takes a short time,” especially if a longer version may be done later.

Short Take review: A short review of a film with potential discussion points

Summary: Modern heist films that involve an ensemble cast have two primary choices regarding screenplay originality: Go big or go clever. In cinematic shell games, it is rare to develop a story that will keep audiences guessing until the end, leaving most productions to undertake a seemingly impossible ‘lift’ to get people to watch. Director F. Gary Gray (The Fast and the Furious) has assembled a team led by Kevin Hart (Me Time) as the internationally recognised thief, Cyrus, to steal a ton of gold on a passenger jet during the flight. Their team has been strongly enlisted by Interpol agent Abby Gladwell (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), to help bring the banking and terrorist mastermind Lars Jorgenson (Jean Reno) to justice. Suppose they pull off the seemingly impossible task. In that case, their team will be given immunity from all past crimes they are being sought after by the world’s governments. Yet, if they fail, they will most likely make an enemy of one of the most powerful men on the planet and probably lose their lives.

Review: The challenge with going big opposed to going down the clever path is the majority of the cast and the story becomes a foregone conclusion. Each member of the team becomes a caricature of previous films within the genre and the effectiveness of the action is what audiences must rely on for entertainment. There are enough twists and turns, comedic elements, and the obligatory sexual tension within Lift to make it a fun romp through the Swiss Alps airspace, but doesn’t offer anything to the realm of heist films. Kevin Hart does his best to lead this crew, but struggles to make his character believable as a criminal mastermind much less a leader worth following. Vincent D'Onofrio, Billy Magnussen, Jean Reno, and Sam Worthington all are given their moments to shine throughout the heist. Still, none are given free rein to develop their characters enough to care whether they survive the operation. F. Gary Gray shows his love for Venice once again as he did in The Italian Job (2003), but failed to capture the ensemble chemistry that he achieved with his earlier film.

Reel Dialogue: Is there a sliding scale of morality?

Morality: conformity to the rules of right conduct; moral or virtuous conduct.

In the world of the war on crime or terrorism, can morality truly exist? ' Lift' presents this question through its plot, where compromise has to play a factor in this world of flexible morals and manipulation. At the core of this work, there has to be a moral centre to drive people to continue this line of work. This challenge is to know where to find this integral drive for morality. Most of us will never directly experience the effects of this level of virtue. However, we still have to determine right and wrong for ourselves. We can look to mankind for examples, but people inevitably fail the true test for a moral code eventually.

Only one person in history set the standard for morality and proved that no one else could ultimately hold to this standard. This may sound hopeless, but Jesus did not leave humanity without a solution to this morality juxtaposition.

Are you intrigued? Here is a link to a letter written by Paul called Romans, it opens up things on the subject of morality. It is a short read, but allows for consideration for where it bases your morality. Romans

If you would like to discuss morality and God, reach out to us at Third Space. We would love to chat with you about this and more.