On DVD: “The Vault”

Generally, I enjoy a good heist movie and there have been a lot of them – from “Ocean’s 11,” “The Usual Suspects,” “The Italian Job,” to “The Bank Job” and many others.

The conventions of the genre include a seemingly impossible task coupled with drama between team members and a story complicated by unseen circumstances.

“The Vault” hits on all of these conventions but does so in such an unoriginal way that what few surprises the film offers are muted.

The film opens with a salvage crew hauling up millions of dollars in gold from a 17th century shipwreck. The Spanish government, however, seizes the gold and its claim is upheld in court.

The ship’s captain, Walter, (Liam Cunningham) is determine to get back his gold and recruits a group of people to help him steal it from the Bank of Spain in Madrid.

Naturally he seems to have unlimited resources to accomplish this goal.

Among his crew is a pickpocket, a former spy, a hacker and a college student who has received international acclaim from solving an engineering problem. Thom (Freddie Highmore) is being recruited by various large corporations but he isn’t interested. He is more interested in what a cryptic message he receives means and he finds himself joining Walter’s crew.

Thom just wanders off from a dinner with his father to join the crew. It’s moments like this one early in the film that made me shake my head.

The vault at the Bank of Spain is, of course, viewed as perfect in its construction and Thom’s job is how to figure out its weaknesses.

The film is set in 2010 when Spain is in the World Cup and the heist is planned when the fan hysteria completely occupies Madrid – this story element a nice touch.

The film is not successful in my opinion because of one major factor: Highmore’s performance. Seldom have I seen such a one-note characterization. Highmore looks like he is about 15 and has the same open-mouth look of amazement through most of the film. There are a couple of scenes in which he looks a bit pouty.

Kissing the pretty girl? Same expression. Trying to solve the puzzle of the vault? Same expression. Avoiding drowning? Same expression.

It is only in the last third of the movie in which the drama comes alive, but when it does we still have Highmore’s monotonous performance.

A key to the success of these films is caring about the crew undertaking the heist. I truly don’t care about Highmore’s character. He’s a cipher.

Another key is having a story in which the goal is to solve a puzzle in a logical way. This film has a couple of jaw-dropping moments in which logic fails.

While the production is a handsome one – Madrid looks like an amazing city – “The Vault” falters thanks to a poorly constructed story and a terrible performance from its star.

By the way, there is also a 2019 thriller with the same name.