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	The Score Angela Bassett, Marlon Brando Paramount, 2001 average customer review:based on 181 reviews view larger image
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World-weary safecracker De Niro agrees to one last job for old pal Brando's sake who is in a bind with the highly dangerous local crime syndicate. The "inside" man is young, untested Ed Norton, a janitor at the Montreal Customs House where a priceless scepter is being stored. De Niro is tempted by the potential six million dollar payoff so he can retire to just being the owner of a jazz club. The setup is complicated, the execution nerve wracking and the conclusion has a marvelous twist.

Brando as the opulently wealthy infallible set up man is wonderfully clever in his role. To me, the chemistry between he and Norton was stronger and better balanced than between Brando and De Niro. Always a danger when performing with Brando, De Niro seemed to fade a little when Brando was in the scene. Norton is flat out brilliant as an icy young criminal. He convinces his coworkers at the Customs House, he is a harmless, slightly palsied and retarded youth. In this guise, he is lovably cheerful and guileless, a beautiful contrast to the cold, cynical crook that lies beneath. De Niro gets a workout having to carry out the incredibly complex robbery where the tension level goes through the roof. Angela Bassett does what she can in a somewhat stereotyped role as De Niro's girlfriend.

This would be a 5-star caper movie except it has 2nd act troubles. It sags a little in the middle and wanders off course. When it finally gets to the nuts and bolts of the actual robbery, the film is gripping and tension is unremitting ably assisted by a fine musical score. Don't miss it; the movie stands on its own. Brando delivers not just a cameo or a walk-through for a paycheck, but a fine thinking performance. (How does he always make it seem so effortless?) De Niro is fine and gritty, if a little subdued and Norton is superb.
-sweetmolly-Amazon Reviewer

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Great actors, needed stronger plot

All of the actors in this film are great. And by great, I mean they easily disappear into their characters and become believeable. The chemistry between DeNiro and Bassett works as does Marlon Brando, who it's almost impossible to believe is an actor. Brando slips into character so easily that it's a little disturbing to see him in one performance to the next, he's both a presence larger than himself and at the same time invisible to being detected. As always Ed Norton is very good too as someone who is ultimately challenging DeNiro's character to break his rules.
The problem with this film is the plot. There's a lot of characters here but the plot isn't as meaty as they are. I often complain about the letdown of the third act but somewhere there was distress in the secodn act, I believe and the third act balances the promise of the first but is lost to being a conenctive part to what the second should've built about. The heist is a little simplsitic and the double cross apparent in a formulaic way. I think that movies come up against the wall of Doing Harm to The Lead Characters as a plot derailer. By having to avoid the "hero" either losing or dying, films have to redeem him or her at the end in often flat ways. The desire for sequels must also permeate this thought as does the marketing perception of a movie. However it often costs really good casts assemblage making incredible movies.
Watch thsi for the talent but not the story.

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