Movies

Short of the Day: Get Your Squad Together for ‘The Heist’

A slick, absurd, and hilarious genre spoof.
By  · Published on August 24th, 2017

A slick, absurd, and hilarious genre spoof.

In pretty much every heist movie ever made – from The Killing to The Hot Rock to Ocean’s 11 (either one) to Logan Lucky – there’s always that one sequence near the end of the first act where the mastermind gathers his team. He’s the brains, so he’ll need a Right-Hand Man, some Brawn, some kind of Specialist, maybe two, a Wheelman, a Moll, and everybody’s favorite, the Wild Card. The positions might change from film to film, but the concept is the same: a high-stakes heist requires a motley crew of criminals with vastly different skills coming together as one superior force; like Voltron, but, you know, bad.

Director Luke Harris has taken this trope as the basis for his comedy and today’s short selection, The Heist. In the span of five side-splitting minutes, he explores the absurdity of such sequences by reaching past the expected into the surreal, all with a lampoonish air.

And it isn’t just the narrative and characters that mock the heist genre, Harris’ direction and the film’s overall production value are parallel as well, with a barrage of quick cuts and other slick tricks of camera and editing that elevates this above your typical comedy shorts.

But you don’t have to take my word for it. The Heist has been featured over at our pals Short of the Week, and it was also a Vimeo Staff Pick, that most coveted badge of online recognition. It seems to be universally agreed upon, then, that The Heist is well-worth five minutes of your time, guaranteed to entertain, and impressive from a technical standpoint to boot. Enjoy.

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