City of Industry (1997)

“We’ll give him a little crash course in free enterprise. Besides, it’s the black market. What’s he gonna do? Go to the consulate?” – Lee Egan

Number of Times Seen – Twice (6 Jun 1999 and 2 Sep 2020)

Brief Synopsis – A retired criminal comes back for one last heist in order to help his younger brother.

My Take on it – This is a film that seems like it would work so much better on paper than it does in actuality.

The story itself is sub-par for the crime genre and the fact that these characters aren’t developed well enough makes it harder for things to work.

The film sports a superb cast yet one of them are given enough to do along the way.

The pacing of this is far too slow and that also hurts things too much.

Harvey Keitel is a great actor, especially in this kind of genre, but he feels miscast here in this role largely due to the fact that he is unrealistically suppose to be Timothy Hutton’s brother.

The story and plot don’t feel original enough and things feel far too predictable especially once the film switches from being a heist film to one all about revenge which is quiet a shame.

Bottom Line – Sub-par crime film that doesn’t work largely due to the fact that the characters aren’t developed well enough. The cast is great but they aren’t given enough to do along the way. The story moves along at too slow of a pace for a crime film and that also hurts things a bit too much. Keitel is a great actor, but he feels miscast in this role due to the fact that he seems too old to be playing Hutton’s brother. The story doesn’t feel original enough and things are a bit too predictable especially once it turns from a heist film into a revenge one.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – This film was originally supposed to be made under the budget of $30,000,000 starring Kevin Costner in the lead role. In the end, Costner had pulled out and the film was made under the budget of $8,000,000 with Harvey Keitel taking the lead. (From IMDB)

Rating – Razzie Worthy (3/10)