Diamond heists are forever

Introduction

My name is Michael Caine. And I'm 'ere to nick yer diamonds.

Directed by Michael Radford, Flawless tells the story of a diamond heist in 1960s London. Laura Quinn (Demi Moore) is an intelligent and ambitious executive at the London Diamond Corporation who finds herself frustrated by a glass ceiling after years of hard work.



Hobbs (Michael Caine) is the janitor at London Diamond who is virtually invisible to the executives that work there, but over the years has amassed a startling amount of knowledge about how the company runs. Observing Laura's frustration, he asks her to help him execute an ingenious plan to steal a hefty sum in diamonds. Can this unlikely pairing work together to pull off an audacious heist?

Video and Audio

As usual nowadays, an excellent 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer is presented. Colours are fine and everything looks very good indeed. It looks like quite a convincing 1960s London for the most part, although one or two sets look a bit too modern for my liking.

A choice of very good DD5.1 soundtrack or a good DD2.0 soundtrack to accompany the visuals. Nothing to complain about.

Extra Features

The main extra is the director's commentary, which is an interesting and informative look at all the aspects of the film. Well worth a listen if you have the time.

There are also a couple of text based features which give the history of the diamond and some brief information on the "top 5 diamond heists". These are not all that great.

Conclusion

I watched this film for one thing alone, Michael Caine. If he's in a film, I stand a good chance of watching it. He is such a great actor and it's a pleasure to watch him at work. Even if the film contains Demi Moore, who leaves me utterly cold. Curiously enough, leaving me utterly cold actually works for the character that she plays in this film. Michael Caine is his usual excellent self, switching between forelock-tugging, mild-mannered janitor and cunning diamond heister with ease.

The story itself is not perhaps the most original, a kind of Ocean's 11 told in flashback for Radio 3 listeners, but it works due to having Michael Caine on screen, and also Joss Ackland, who was surely born to play a heartless diamond baron at some point. As for the DVD, the commentary track is good but they could have done more, such as features on how they made Luxembourg look like 1960s London. With such a low profile release, we should probably just be thankful for what we were given.

Buy this if you like watching Michael Caine, if you like heist films which don't use lots of improbable technology in place of a plot, or if you just fancy a change from hi-octane action nonsense.



PS Watch out for the scene depicted above - it's a really nice touch!