Film & TV

DVD Review: Term Life

A man who plans heists for a living must take his estranged teenage daughter on the run when he’s framed for the death of a crime boss’ son by crooked police.

There’s some surprisingly good movies emerging from the WWE studios that are far removed from the wrestling smackdowns that they’re most notable for.

Term Life, while lacking originality in it’s storyline, is one such decent effort. It’s a highly enjoyable crime thriller played to the familiar beat of a criminal father and his estranged daughter going on the run together and finally bonding.

TermLifeDVDThe action kicks off almost immediately with Nick Barrow (Vince Vaughn) planning his next heist. He does this for a living, selling his services to the highest bidder. When the purpetrators pull off the heist however, it results in the death of crime king Viktor’s (Jordi Mollà) son. Barrow is blamed and forced into hiding, hunted by both the mob and the crooked police who did the killing.

Barrow has been watching his teenage daughter growing up from afar. Never able to be a father to her, he realises that he’s unlikely to come out of his situation alive and so he takes out a life insurance policy, naming his daughter Cate (Hailee Steinfeld) as his sole beneficiary. The policy will take three weeks to commence, meaning Barrow must stay alive at least that long, but when the mob learns of Cate’s existence, Barrow is forced to flee with her to keep them both alive.

Written by Andy Lieberman from a graphic novel by Nick Thornborrow, Term Life finds a good balance between action and sentiment, leaning towards the tenser moments for most of the film. The only element that doesn’t ring true is Barrow’s eagerness to teach his daughter the art of planning a heist after suffereing so much angst about her making bad choices since she became a troubled teen.

The predictable plot doesn’t distract from the overall enjoyment of the film because each character is well-realised by the talented cast and there’s good chemistry between the ensemble. Jonathan Banks is particularly good as Barrow’s friend and unexpected parental mentor.

There’s some good action scenes, thanks to Peter Billingsley’s fine direction which let’s the family moments play out without distracting from the ever-present danger for the characters.

Term Life may not be unique but it’s a good yarn that most should enjoy.

Reviewed by Rod Lewis
Twitter: @StrtegicRetweet

Rating out of 10:  7

Term Life is out now on DVD.

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