Men of Steal

'The Score' Adds Marvelous New Variables to the Classic Heist Formula

"The Score" is sublime, a cunning heist movie that thrills the senses despite a lack of strutting muscleheads, exploding skyscrapers, reckless driving and menacing stares. It's smart, sleek and sharply directed. Even if it stank, the volatile chemistry among Robert De Niro, Marlon Brando and the dynamic Ed Norton would be worth the price of admission.

Though Brando mocked director Frank Oz's past affiliation with Jim Henson ("The Great Muppet Caper") by referring to him as Miss Piggy throughout the shoot, who better to manipulate this cast than a puppeteer? (And of all people, who better to keep a porcine diva in his place . . .)

Miss Piggy sure can direct.

Even the setting of Montreal, with its French-speaking natives, is refreshing after the grime of Gotham and the flash of Lotus Land. The charming city is home to Nick Wells (De Niro), a safe-cracking cat burglar known for his caution and class. Of course, a guy named Nick has just got to run a bar where French is spoken. Naturally the jazz is cool, the patrons are hip, and the decor is as understated as Nick, who is ready to settle down and focus on his legitimate business.

However, Max (Brando), his freaky fence, longtime friend and financial partner, wants to pull one last job -- and the payoff will be their biggest ever. Nick's share will be $6 million, enough to clear his debts with enough left over to last him a lifetime.

Nick's intuition warns him against the job, but he has just promised to give up crime if his flight attendant girlfriend (Angela Bassett in a throwaway role) will leave the friendly skies for him. To make the score, he must violate his prime directives: Always work alone and never operate in his own back yard.

Yes, the form is familiar, but they work it so well that it doesn't matter. It took three writers to come up with new twists, and Oz urged the actors to add their own improvisations -- not that this crew needed to be encouraged.

Norton has the flashiest part as Jack, an aspiring thief who's hooked up with Max but needs Nick's talents to break into Montreal's heavily guarded Customs House, where a jeweled scepter has been stashed in a state-of-the-art vault. By pretending to be retarded, Jack has wheedled his way into a job as the facility's assistant night janitor. Along with scoping out the elaborate security system, he has won the trust of the guards.

Nick sizes up Jack with one hard look, and despite the cocky youth's attempt to win him over, the older man remains wary. The question is not whether but when he'll do something to cheat his partners or screw up the risky job. Despite mounting setbacks and his girlfriend's ire, Nick can't resist the thrill or the challenge.

Though Nick is graying at the temples, he remains vigorous. Still, De Niro has enough sense to show his character struggling to meet the physical demands of his line of work when many of his peers would be scampering around like Tom Cruise in "Mission: Impossible." You've got to admire a macho man with the gumption to grunt with exertion.

Norton is excellent in what is essentially a dual role -- Jack and the janitor -- similar to, but much less visceral than, the one he took in "Primal Fear." The interplay between him and De Niro bristles with energy, a droll game executed with sureness and finesse. And Brando's affably offbeat middleman is a big fat treat in the Sydney Greenstreet mode.

"The Score" compares favorably with old-fashioned heist movies like "Topkapi," "The Thomas Crown Affair" and "It Takes a Thief." It is that rarity of rarities, a darned good movie.

The Score (123 minutes, at area theaters) is rated R for vulgar language.