Flawless – 2008 – Michael Radford
Flawless is a movie that had me intrigued from the very beginning, blew me away in the middle and never let go. It’s rare that a movie does such a good job of keeping me away from my insatiable need to check Facebook every five minutes, and although Flawless wasn’t entirely successful, in its defense, I’m a bit of an addict so any progress is good progress. Use all the cheesy puns you want for gem heist movies: Diamond in the Rough, Hidden Gem in my collection, whatever. Bottom line, I loved this movie.
It stars Michael Caine as Hobbs, the “bad guy you want to root for,” which isn’t difficult for the charming old Brit. Really he could be a serial killer who only targets women and children and it would still be difficult to hate him. Hobbs works as a janitor for the London Diamond Corporation (referred to as Lon Di) and has for the last 15 years. He knows everybody in the building, knows all the juicy gossip and the hot topics because snooty diamond collectors see janitors as people with no brain in their heads, so talking confidentially and leaving them alone in restricted areas aren’t considered as risky ventures.
Of course, Hobbs is smarter than this, and after 15 years of scraping, waxing, and scrubbing, he’s 6 months away from retirement with the knowledge that his pension is going to inaccurately reflect the service he’s provided for Lon Di, so he composes a plan to secure his future a little better and what better way to do so than to steal some diamonds? When you’re job is to wipe down and polish every nook and cranny in the building, eventually you learn where some of them lead and the secrets they contain. Using it to your advantage is easy at that point, and presented so.
Originally this was a solo plan, but perhaps out of compassion, Hobbs recruits Laura Quinn (Demi Moore) who I’d like to say is an up-and-coming think-tank, but this movie takes place during 1960’s London where the glass ceiling for women was as visible as a neon lights in a strip club so having a female manager in a Diamond Corporation looks bad for business. Regardless, as a top contracts negotiator, Quinn continues to claw her way through the trenches, leaving motivational index cards in confidential envelopes to herself to help her believe that one day, yes, she will beat the big boys. It’s charming and you can’t help but respect her for it. So when Hobbs informs her that she’s about to be run out of the company, you don’t feel bad this company’s about to be taken for an “unnoticeable 100 million pounds,” and neither does Quinn after a very short while. Quinn’s role is mainly support when the actual heist happens, but it proves to be vital when it matters most.
For anyone who’s ever seen the movie Fracture with Anthony Hopkins, this movie follows the same formula. Everything seems so cut and dry and all of sudden you’re slapped in the face and nothing makes sense anymore. Some movies do this poorly (or in the case of Basic, VERY poorly), Flawless…well…does this flawlessly. The heist goes like clockwork and you’re comfortable with that clockwork until you realize the clock just struck 13 and you wish you paid better attention. The specific point when this movie turns upside down and spins on its head captures your attention in such a way where you just shake your head and don’t want to leave your seat for the rest of the movie.
Without spoiling it, from that point on, Hobbs turns from partner to opponent and Quinn (and us, for that matter) spends the last half of the movie trying to figure what dastardly plan that charming old Brit had been concocting for the last 15 years while also trying to juggle the disaster area that is one of the biggest diamond dealers in the world. She’s frantic, frazzled at how something so easy went so awry, almost to the point of wanting to turn herself in to ease the pain. You feel for Quinn because you know that after all this is said and done, she’s still probably getting fired and the heist doesn’t seem like it’s actually going to accomplish anything. You’re just left guessing and the only answers lie in Hobbs, who almost wants to tell us and revel in his own glory, but he’s too busy containing his laughter while he watches the Lon Di dogs run around in circles.
To add to the irony of this situation, Lon Di hires an investigator, Finch (Lambert Wilson), who takes on Quinn as a second set of eyes to try to unravel this caper. Whereas normally this would be a perfect situation for a jewel thief, Quinn feels obligated to use this opportunity to investigate her own theft and discover Hobbs’s real plan.
Flawless takes you on a journey West and somehow you find yourself East. Quinn’s frustration keeps you wanting this all to be over, Hobbs’s calmness keeps you wondering how it’s going to end. The two don’t have a perfect chemistry, they can’t have perfect chemistry because up until a few days ago, he was just a janitor and it’s that uneasiness that makes this so much fun to watch. It’s like two people playing the same poker hand, but only one person knowing the rules.
When it all wraps up and you discover the secrets behind Hobbs’s plan, you’re ok with it. It works and tops off the movie nicely. It’s heartfelt, sweet and you’re content with the extra lengths that Hobbs took to make this way more complicated than it perhaps needed to be.
I really enjoyed this caper, but I also love these kinds of movies that get you so comfortable with the direction you’re going that when you wind up in a completely different place than logic says you should be, you can’t help but feel giddy at the mystery behind the experience. Flawless accomplished it with flying colors and ended on a high note that usually gets fumbled in other movies. I can’t say it was entirely PERFECT, but it did live true to its name: Flawless.
I give it 9 out of 10 dustbusters. I really hope this trend continues.
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