“Honest Thief” (Action/Crime: 1 hour, 39 minutes)

Starring: Liam Neeson, Kate Walsh, Jai Courtney, Anthony Ramosand, and Jeffrey Donovan

Director: Mark Williams

Rated: PG-13 (Crude References, strong Language and strong violence)

Movie Review: “Honest Thief” is good on action but short on a solid story. It features an always dependable Liam Neeson in an action role, but this action flick doesn’t live up to his other movies. 

Thomas Dolan (Neeson) is known as “The In-and-Out Bandit.” After meeting and falling in love Annie (Walsh), Dolan wants to become a law-abiding citizen. 

The thief contacts the FBI, agreeing to return the $9 million he took over years of heists in exchange for a reduced sentence. Dolan hopes returning the money will give him a chance at life and love, but corrupt FBI Agents Nivens (Courtney) and Hall (Ramos) frame Dolan for murder. The former bank robber must now clear his name.

Action is plentiful in the crime feature, the second feature film for director Mark Williams (“A Family Man,” 2016). The problem is the screenplay is not resounding in a manner that makes one care about the characters, thus lessening the story.

Additionally, the movie feels like many of Neeson’s movies. They are all about a guy getting revenge. The plot similarities make all of his movies feel like sequels to other movies.

Grade: C (Honestly, it entertains, but it is not a convincing story.)

“Love and Monsters” (Adventure: 1 hour, 49 minutes)

Starring: Dylan O’Brien, Jessica Henwick, Dan Ewing and Michael Rooker

Director: Michael Matthews

Rated: PG-13 (Action/violence, language and some suggestive material)

Movie Review: “Love and Monsters” operates like a B-movie while not fully living up to the genre. Instead, it comes off as a very imaginative monster, survival movie. It contains plenty of action sequences and eye-candy, where an array of eccentric humans, very extravagant monsters and a robot thrive.

Seven years prior, a united Earth destroyed a massive asteroid named Agatha 616. The high-powered weapons used to stop it produced harmful environmental elements in Earth’s atmosphere. This causes lower life forms like amphibians, reptiles, insects and some sea life to become large monsters. 

Amid the apocalypse, humans have fled to underground colonies. Joel Dawson (O’Brien) braves dangers from giant monsters that now rule Earth to reach the love of his life, Aimee (Henwick), who is nearly 80 miles away.

Adventure is at its best with this movie because of constant displays of monsters. It is comparable to the monster movies of the 1940s through the 1960s with the visual aspirations of a 1980s flick. While the frights may be too aggressive for very young audiences, teens and older audiences should find the movie fascinating enough to charm.

Some characters’ actions do not always feel authentic but the cast offers earnest work to achieve an entertaining movie. Director Michael Matthews (“Five Fingers for Marseilles,” 2017) uses conversations in between action survival scenes to develop characters. These are the movie’s best moments, and an affable Dylan O’Brien leads the moments. He is at home in this role.

This is best in scenes where O’Brien’s Joel interacts with Clyde and Minnow, played respectively by brilliant Michael Rooker and talented young actress Ariana Greenblatt. 

This same sort of realness happens again when Joel encounters Mav1s robot with a 1 replacing the I in its name. Melanie Zanetti beautifully voices the robot. The conversations between Joel and Mav1s are beautiful poetic moments that offer an engaging moment of tranquility.

Realism escapes the script at times, and character actions are puzzling. O’Brien’s character forgets to run as instructed often, but it fits his character who freezes under pressure often. Of course, this flaw doesn’t stop one from wanting to yell, “Run, you fool.”

After all, this is a monster movie. He should run. Audiences should run and peek at this oddly engaging movie.

Grade: B (Easy to love adventure and monsters.)

“2 Hearts” (Romance/Drama: 1 hour, 40 minutes)

Starring: Adan Canto, Radha Mitchell, Jacob Elordi and Tiera Skovbye

Director: Lance Hool

Rated: PG-13 (Some strong language and thematic elements)

Movie Review: An adaptation of “All My Tomorrows” by Brian Gregory, “2 Hearts” is a true story about two families’ stories that collide. 

These two stories are pleasing romances, each playing like their own movie. However, the romances collide at a tragedy. At this point, the audiences’ feast is a tearjerker. The romance scenes are appealing even if awkward frequently, but the illusion quickly changes to the formulaic after the romance ends.

Businessman Jorge Bolivar (Canto) and flight attendant Leslie (Mitchell) meet encounter each other on a flight. Chris (Elordi) literally bumps into Sam (Skovbye) on a college campus. Time separates the two couples, but their destinies are on course to intersect.

One of the best parts of life is the moment one meets the person who becomes one’s lover. The romance that ensues is energetic and intoxicating from even an observer’s perspective. 

This movie makes meeting one’s mate a romantic aspiration. After rushing those get-togethers, “2 Hearts” then leaves that dreamy world for real-world ventures that are not as enjoyable and become a typical overplayed tragedy.

Grade: C (1 out of 2 hearts, it is.)

Adann-Kennn Alexxandar lives and works in Valdosta.