Caught Stealing Review: A Dark and a Wild Ride!

Life is and has never been fair. One can make the most responsible and careful decisions and still get stuck in unimaginable circumstances. Sometimes irresponsible decisions result in dire consequences and sometimes life still finds a way to punish us for our safe choices. To an extent we have the power to create our own course for life but unexpected situations can still come out of nowhere to screw with the life we are trying to create.

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Caught Stealing, based on the novel by Charlie Huston, is about how past decisions can impact the trajectory of our life while other times life has its own plans no matter what we do. With Aronofsky as its director and Huston writing the screenplay, this film is a wild ride that refuses to quit on its audience or Hank, our main protagonist.

​It is the year 1998 and Hank (Austin Butler) is working the late shift at a local bar in New York before heading home with his girlfriend Yvonne (Zoe Kravitz). Hank was a talented baseball player in high school before a drunken car accident busted his knee, resulting in his dreams of the major leagues left to die with his teammate Dale (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Taj) in the crash.

Depressed and beaten down by his life, Hank’s routine is broken when his neighbor Russ (Matt Smith) asks him to watch his cat while he visits his sick father. What Russ doesn’t tell Hank is his involvement with the Russian and Hebrew mafia as well as a corrupt cop (Regina King). Everyone is out to kill Hank if he doesn’t play along with their game; retrieve their 4 million dollars back that Russ has hidden. What results is a convoluted string of events that Hank must piece together, all while running for his life before he gets caught by the wrong people.

Where Caught Stealing separates itself from other films in the crime/comedy genre is in its dark tone Aronofsky creates that heightens the violence and cat and mouse hunt Hank faces. The weight on Hank’s shoulders is increased as he must fight for his life. The film has the audience empathizing with him being beaten down at every turn since his audience. Where other films have their main character go through the ringer in a comedic way, Aronofsky maintains a feeling of despair throughout that has his audience begging for Hank to finally catch a break.

Darren Aronofsky’s compelling style and storytelling allows his actors to shine in their roles while continuously showing his own talent to tell their stories. Austin Butler continues to show he is one of the most versatile and enjoyable actors to watch on screen. His performance as Hank both gives off his careless and irresponsible nature from his past as well as the side worthy of redemption. He is a character that the audience wants to see “win” but only if he is willing to change his ways and get out of his own slump.

Caught Stealing poses a more offbeat ride than Aronofsky’s previous and sombre film The Whale, in a way that maintains Aronofsky’s darker style while allowing him to venture all across New York City with Hank. In this, this film possesses a band of characters that mirrors an action/thriller that also plays as a dramedy other times.

Caught Stealing is also a brilliant character study of Hank and how the worst decisions can impact the rest of your life, but not enough where you can’t take the control back. Hank tries to understand the situation Russ left him in instead of seeing himself as a victim the entire time. Rather than just survive, Huston has written a screenplay where Hank makes the decision to try to beat everyone at their own game and take his life back from those who are stealing it from him, including himself.

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In the same way a novel is able to expand and create a layered picture of a character, Huston and Aronofsky have developed a gripping and dark ride through New York’s crime world in conjunction with a man trying to dig his way out of his own hole of despair. Caught Stealing is just what one loves to see at the movies while also showcasing Butler and Aronofsky’s continuing talents.

‘Caught Stealing’ Rating – 4/5