Previewing Heist 88

 

Sit down kiddies, I have a story to tell: you now that phone in your hand that does just about everything you need, from banking transactions to playing games, and yes, it will even make phone calls.  But there was a time when there were not smartphones.  There was even a time when very few people even owned computers.  Even the few people that had them, these were very rudimentary computers that were not connected to the internet.

 

Heist 88 takes you back to this time; the 88 in the title being the year it takes place.  Courtney B Vance plays a criminal mastermind that recruits his cash strapped nephew and friends who work at a bank to pull off the second half of the title.  Sure, banks were some of the few places that had computers back then, but this is before secure transfer and encryption.  To transfer money, even millions of dollars, all you needed was a single conformation code and a second bank employee confirms the code via a phone call.

 

Inspired by true events, Heist 88 is a tight, just under ninety minutes.  We do not get much background on the players aside from a clunky montage where Vance goes around and sees just how struggling his potential accomplices are.  There is not even you usual epilogue of what happened to these people afterwards you usually see in these inspired by true event movies.

 

Despite some strong performances (unfortunately Keith David does not have much of a role), you can tell why Paramount decided to put it straight Showtime as it is a second tier movie, though one with a twist ending for those not familiar with the story it is based on.

 

Heist 88 airs Sunday at 9:00 on Showtime.  The film is currently able to stream on Paramount+ with Showtime.