What I liked about The Score, other than the actors, is that it takes its time providing us with all the details of the heist. So many heist movies have stunts that seem entirely implausible; they don't explain much to the viewer and just count on the fact that we won't think too deeply about what's going on. This one builds things slowly, while providing us with the tension and contrast between the characters - steady dependable De Niro and the hotshot, Ed Norton. Don't expect much violence; this movie is about people using their wits and trying to trip each other up. The ending is also deeply satisfying.
However, "The Score" still has some stunts, and above all, a smart direction. The movie has a lot of interesting camera angles, a nice choreography for the stunts, cool gadgets, and a very welcome movie score, by Howard Shore. But that's just the icing in the cake, because the three actors are the main reason to see "The Score".
Robert De Niro's latest films aren't exactly nice movies, so perhaps "The Score" is the latest good movie that he has appear on. Also, "The Score" is the last chance to see Marlon Brando (R.I.P.) at the top of his game, we know that he didn't like his acting career very much, so "The Score" was the last time that he showed us his acting talent, perhaps because he was stimulated to share scenes with Robert De Niro and the promising Edward Norton.
The DVD doesn't have a lot of features, but they are good. The audio commentary is very informative because not only Frank Oz, the director of the movie shares his experiences, but also Rob Hahn, the director of photography reveals some tricks and resources used to film "The Score". The Behind-the-Scenes feature and the additional footage are really interesting, because we can see a lot of Marlon Brando's famous improvisation. So the DVD features are few, but they are solid, plus the audio and video quality are very good, because this is a recent film.
"The Score" is not a groundbreaking film, but the cast is stunning, the plot is familiar but it's also interesting, the direction is smart, the music is good, and all that results in an amusing film. Specially recommendable for fans of Robert De Niro, Marlon Brando or Edward Norton.
