No Sudden Move review – mercurial heist thriller is equal parts smart and fun

Out of the six movies that Steven Soderbergh has directed since his 2013 “retirement,” none have quite come across as “classic Soderbergh” like No Sudden Move. A sharply written and propulsive ‘50s heist tale, it plays like the older and more cynical cousin of his Ocean’s trilogy, morphing between genres to tell a bleak but wildly entertaining story of thefts, quadruple-crosses, and the way power and money begets even more power and money.

It all starts with a simple plan, with three criminals – ambitious Curt (Don Cheadle), dumb enforcer Ronald (Benico del Toro), and livewire Charley (Kieran Culkin) – hired to intimidate General Motors accountant Matt Wertz (David Harbour) into stealing a top-secret document from his boss’s safe. Of course, the trio haven’t been told the full story by their mafia contact Jones (a nice role for Brendan Fraser), and it’s not long before Charley is out of the picture and Curt and Ronald are unravelling a conspiracy that could result in a six-figure payday.

It’s a thrillingly twisty and devious story, and Ed Solomons’s script is peppered with great dialogue as everyone involved tries their best to never let on to anyone else just how much they do or, more often, don’t know. It’s perfect material for Soderbergh, who is a great fit for the balancing act between light entertainment and dark undercurrents that defines No Sudden Move. He keeps things moving with peppy music and short, sharp bursts of action and violence, also drawing typically great performances from his cast.

Del Toro can do this kind of role with his eyes closed at this point, and he has a lot of fun, but it’s Cheadle who really stands out with his best performance in a very long time. His Curt is a deeply human mess of contradictions – gruffly violent yet compassionate, embittered but deeply hopeful – and Cheadle makes the absolute most of a rich part. He also looks just a little older and more vulnerable than he has in his recent work, keeping the stakes real and grounded even as events take a more farcical turn.

Soderbergh has assembled quite the supporting cast too and everyone, from Bill Duke to Jon Hamm to Uncut Gems’s Julia Fox, makes a spiky and funny impression. There are a couple of unwelcome visual tics – in particular a fisheye lens effect that is rather jarring – in a film that is otherwise plenty stylish but, as the whirlwind of a finale approaches, these problems fade into the background.

No Sudden Move has a few points to make about the evils of the auto industry and its inexorable ties to the destruction of Black homes across America, and is astute on the invincibility that society grants to already powerful men, adding welcome layers to the crowd-pleasing action. Soderbergh’s post-retirement run has been a bit hit-and-miss, but this is the highlight of the lot so far (there’s a seventh already in post-production). It’s the prolific and adaptable auteur back to almost his very best – intelligent, pacy, well-performed, and (most importantly) a hell of a lot of fun.

No Sudden Move is now streaming on Now.