City Of Industry Review

City Of Industry
A retired thief swears revenge on the lunatic who murdered his brother and partner, while going on the run with the loot they stole.

by Kim Newman |
Published on
Release Date:

01 Jan 1997

Running Time:

97 minutes

Certificate:

18

Original Title:

City Of Industry

If you adored Reservoir Dogs, loved The Usual Suspects, thoroughly enjoyed Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead and sort of liked Two Days In The Valley, then you're probably so hooked on the caper-goes-wrong craze you'll get something out of the naffly-titled City Of Industry.

Lee Egan (Timothy Hutton) puts together a crew for a jewel heist in Palm Springs, roping in his tough guy thief brother Roy (Keitel) with married nice guy Jorge (Wade Dominguez), and unpredictable hothead getaway driver Skip (Dorff). The robbery goes as planned, but rather than take his fair split, Skip tries to wipe out the rest of the gang and high-tails it to the big city, with a vengeful Roy ("I am my own police") on his track.

Brit John Irvin has tried his hand at thrillers before (remember Next Of Kin and Raw Deal?), but here has the advantage of a solid (if hardly original) script and top-notch performers.

While most current players doing the noir trip are showy imitators of old-timers, Keitel has his own peculiar presence and hauls himself through like a tank, investing a severely underwritten role with real guts. Janssen is too beautiful to convince as a supermarket employee but delivers a certain fragile strength, and the uneven Hutton does wonders with a virtual cameo as the quietly desperate, warily genial Lee.

. This ground has been covered, but it will stand a few more rakings-over.
Just so you know, we may receive a commission or other compensation from the links on this website - read why you should trust us