By: Andrew Wing, Contributing Writer
No Sudden Move is a 2021 American period crime thriller film directed, photographed, and edited by Steven Soderbergh. The film takes place in 1954 Detroit, and the plot follows a group of small-time criminals hired to steal what they think is a simple document, but when their plan goes terribly wrong, they must find a way to deal with the looming dire consequences. The film features an ensemble cast consisting of Don Cheadle (Traffic, Avengers: Infinity War), Benicio del Toro (Sicario, Savages), David Harbour (Stranger Things, Black Widow), Jon Hamm (Mad Men, The Town), Amy Seimetz (The Killing, Family Tree), Brendan Fraser (The Mummy, Journey to the Center of the Earth), Kieran Culkin (Succession, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World), Noah Jupe (A Quiet Place), Julia Fox (Uncut Gems), Bill Duke (Commando, Predator), and Ray Liotta (Goodfellas, Field of Dreams).
No Sudden Move made its official debut at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 18th, 2021, and was subsequently released exclusively on the HBO Max streaming service on July 1st.
THE GOOD
There are very few directors throughout the history of cinema that excel when it comes to crime thriller films like Steven Soderbergh, especially when dealing with such a large and talented cast like this movie has. He struck gold with the Ocean’s trilogy and film franchise of which he received widespread acclaim for, but he has also had great success with other crime films such as Out of Sight (1998), Traffic (2000), and a favorite of mine, Logan Lucky (2017). The reason I and many others find Soderbergh’s films of the past so entertaining is because he always provides an entertaining and intriguing story that will keep you wanting to watch and that is exactly the case when it comes to No Sudden Move.
There is no doubt that the movie is pushed forward by the amazing performances of the cast and I will talk more about that later in the review, but the story is instantly immersive which is usually rare when dealing with ensemble casts like in this movie, but with the help of Soderbergh’s direction, trust me when I say that it will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end wanting to know the fates of all the players involved.
Without further ado, it is time to start discussing the performances of the cast which was by far in my opinion the best part of the film and it was undoubtedly led by Don Cheadle. Cheadle plays a man recently released from prison, Curtis Goynes, who will do whatever it takes to get what is his. From the accent of his character, to the intense banter with other characters throughout the film, Cheadle just killed this role and I was impressed. I also loved the performances of both Benicio del Toro as Ronald Russo, and David Harbour as Matt Wertz, and while I didn’t enjoy them as much as I did in other works (del Toro in Sicario and Harbour in Stranger Things) they still demand your attention in every scene they are in with how good they are.
Also worth noting is the performance of Julia Fox as Vanessa Capelli. Fox is best known for her debut performance in the 2019 crime thriller film Uncut Gems, for which she received a nomination for Breakthrough Actor and her performance in this film only strengthens the fact that she has a very bright future ahead and I cannot wait to see what she does next.
Aside from Soderbergh’s direction and the performances of the cast, there were other elements worth mentioning that I thought helped the film tremendously and they were the music (specifically the score at the start of the film) and the beautifully shot cinematography that is commonplace when dealing with Soderbergh films.
THE BAD
If you haven’t yet been able to tell through reading some of my other reviews, I have a hard time finding something bad with a movie I really liked, but hey I’ll give it a shot. Seriously though, this movie is overall really solid and I think if you decide to watch it, you will be very pleased. I don’t know if you can exactly call these things I’m about to address bad, but I will point out two things that stuck out to me throughout the film. One, like most other Soderbergh films, there are a lot of moving pieces in the movie and No Sudden Move is exactly that. The movie will require your full attention, so if you think you are going to be able to be checking your phone or doing other things, I’d say there is a strong chance that you could be confused at the end of it.
Lastly, and I completely understand that with an ensemble cast that it is hard for all the big players to get the same amount of playing time, but I would have liked to see more from both Kieran Culkin’s character Charley Barnes and Brendan Fraser’s Doug Jones. I was just looking forward to seeing what they brought to the table when I watched the trailer and saw the cast members for the first time and I would be lying if I said I was not a tad upset with that, but overall this movie is great and those two things are very minor in the grand scheme of things.
THE VERDICT
There really is nothing like a good crime thriller and while it may not be on par with some of his best works of the past, No Sudden Move is yet another chapter in Steven Soderbergh’s most impressive directing career as he makes the most of an excellent cast consisting of Don Cheadle, Benicio del Toro, David Harbour, Jon Hamm and many others.
TED TAKES RATING - 8.5/10
No Sudden Move is now streaming exclusively on HBO Max through the month of July. Check out the trailer below.