No Sudden Move

This year's NO SUDDEN MOVE is a crime thriller with a not-so-hidden agenda, one that will be literally spelled out onscreen during the film's closing.  Director Steven Soderbergh usually infuses his movies with social and political commentary, often reflecting current affairs (TRAFFIC) or predicative of future ones (CONTAGION).  His new film steps back to mid 1950s Detroit.  Automotive industry employees (and the Mob) become embroiled over a mysterious document which may hold some sort of key to future manufacturing practices.   Along the way we become involved in a twisty, sometimes Coenseque labyrinth.  A film whose only predictability is that there will be multiple double crosses and back stabbings. 

And...it's another Soderbergh "stunt".  One you'll notice immediately.   The director again serves as Director of Photography, under his preferred alias "Peter Andrews", and employs a fish eye lens, giving his film a convexity that sometimes blurs the edges.   Sounds gimmicky, but it maintains visual interest, even giving the film (released directly to HBO Max) a cinematic feel.    It's well suited to this story that is mainly about two criminals: Curt (Don Cheadle) and Ronald (Benicio del Toro) who are hired to "babysit" the family of GM accountant Matt Wertz (David Harbour) while he is accompanied/forced by another thug, Charley (Kieran Culkin) to retrieve said document from his workplace.

Things go south, and Curt and Ronald will soon be on the run, sometimes prompted by their boss Doug (Brendan Fraser) to kill each other.  As time passes, the bounties on their heads grow larger.  And their greed for handsome paydays does likewise.  We meet more key players, including rival mobsters Frank Capelli (Ray Liotta) and Aldrick Watkins (Bill Duke).  Eventually, in the great Soderbergh tradition, Matt Damon will show up in a significant cameo.  He's done this in other director's films, too (INTERSTELLAR).  I can't help but chuckle whenever he unexpectedly appears.  Like he's the center of the cinematic universe or something. 

I alluded to the Coen Bros.  There's a great scene with Wertz and his boss and some thrown punches that felt like something right out of MILLER'S CROSSING.  The comedic overtones are nicely woven in.  Ed Solomon's script is consistently intriguing and its subtext may consider far more than just  automotive industry (and mafia) chicanery.   This is well paced and solid storytelling, skillfully played by an excellent cast, though doesn't quite join the ranks of the films it emulates (CHINATOWN?).  While everyone gets a decent showcase and Soderbergh deftly juggles their stories, by the end I still felt everyone got a bit shortchanged.   This is especially true of Jon Hamm, who plays Detective Joe Finney.  I would've liked to have seen his considerable chops for comedy here.

Most worthy for Soderbergh disciples and completists, or anyone looking for a good bread and butter genre pic.  The title is awfully generic, though, dontcha think?