Big Picture Big Sound

Henry Rollins Steals The Show

The premise of "The Last Heist" is immensely appealing. The execution is immensely unappealing, except for the spookiness of Bernard (Henry Rollins). If not for him, this film would have been an utter waste of time, filled with insanely inane dialogue and story lines as predictable as a politician's answers to questions from reporters.

There were moments when you swore you could hear what characters were saying before they said it. Aside from the look in Rollins' eyes, not much was going on, and when he wasn't on the screen, all that was left was to wait for his next appearance, and unfortunately, he is not on-screen enough.

In an industrial part of downtown Los Angeles, a bank is going out of business. It's on a remote and deserted street and looks nothing like a bank from either the outside or inside. Bernard enters, stating that he would like to withdraw the contents of his safety deposit box. Despite being dressed in a suit, his actions, words, and especially his eyes scream meth addict or someone of a similar ilk.

While Bernard is in the safety deposit box chamber with bank employee Danny (Michael Aaron Milligan), Paul (Torrance Combs) and a gang of masked bank robbers enter the premises in search of something big that they are certain is in the bank. All of the members of this gang talk exactly as you would expect. Clichés fly in rapid-fire. The gathering police outside of the bank are even worse with their chatter. It almost rises to camp, but it's unintentional. At least I think it is.

The twist on the cops-and-robbers plot is that while this is playing out, a serial killer is also on the loose and he is wreaking havoc all over Los Angeles. As luck would have it (SPOILER ALERT!), our deranged serial killer is actually Bernard. Now, director Mike Mendez gets to have a little fun with the triangle of crooks, cops, and a serial killer.

"The Last Heist" is mostly a mess, but the performance of Rollins adds a layer of fear, tension, and humor, and it's not difficult to figure out which of the three entities the audience will end up backing in the battles. Rollins has always been someone who naturally draws attention to himself, beginning with his days as front-man of the punk band, Black Flag. Whenever he's on screen, you will see no one else, and that saves us from feeling like we're the real victims of this heist