No Sudden Move (2021) * *

Directed by:  Steven Soderbergh

Starring:  Don Cheadle, Benicio Del Toro, Jon Hamm, Bill Duke, Ray Liotta, David Harbour, Julia Fox, Kieran Culkin, Amy Seimetz, Noah Jupe, Brendan Fraser

No Sudden Move could use some sudden moves to provide a jolt to a story with an excess of characters and a curious lack of intrigue.   A stellar cast is not supported by a plot worthy of its talents.   After everything that goes down, you ask if that is all there is.   Steven Soderbergh knows his way around a caper film.  He has directed some of the very best in his long career, but this is one that plays more like an exercise in style.

Taking place in 1954 Detroit, ex-con Curt (Cheadle-a Soderbergh veteran) is looking for one more score to give him enough cash to leave town before gangsters he wronged like Watkins (Duke) come after him.  He is hooked up with Ronald Russo (Del Toro) and a wild card named Charlie (Culkin) to "babysit" a family while the father, a weasel accountant for one of the big four car manufacturers, is forced at gunpoint to go into the office and steal a vital document from his boss' safe.   The document isn't there.  The plan goes awry and now Ronald and Curt, who don't trust each other, must go on the lam to think their way out of their predicament. 

This is plenty less exciting on screen than in theory.  FBI organized crime unit detective Joe Finney (Hamm) is soon on the scene and doesn't believe the official story the dad and his family come up with to explain away the bizarre events which befell them.   There will be swerves, double and triple crosses, reveals, switches, and a powerful man (played by another Soderbergh veteran whose name I won't reveal) pulling the strings from the top floor of corporate headquarters.   Even when this is all explained, it's still underwhelming.  

It is difficult to fault the actors, who put in much more energy and enthusiasm than the material deserves.  No Sudden Move has the look of the era right with flawless production values and style to match.   The last time Soderbergh gathered together a cast this formidable was Ocean's Eleven or even Traffic.   No Sudden Move isn't either of those films.