Hard Cash (2001)

Time to make the donuts

Thieves steal $2 million of marked money and become involved with crooked FBI agent Val Kilmer. Cristian Slater plays chief thief who must foil Kilmer's plans and save his daughter.
HARD CASH is pretty dreadful. How dreadful? It was originally released as RUN FOR THE MONEY. Films don't change their titles for nothing.
The acting is okay, but there are a half-dozen or so too many why-are-we-doing-this scenes. The usually reliable Val Kilmer walks through the movie with a dazed and confused expression on his face. Slater is a little bit more on top of things, but he's saddled with a wise beyond her years daughter who doubles as a card sharp and is forced to read lines like "I just can't live like this anymore." Not your typical eight-year-old declaration.
Granted, not many movies have dart gun toting midgets crawling out of toilets, but that happens before the opening credits are run. After that it's all downhill. Pass this one by. July 11, 2004

Slater and Kilmer keep this puppy alive

starts off good with Slater, Troyer, and two others including his girlfriend try to rob William Forsythes place but it ends up with Slater going into the slammer but then he comes back some months or years later and pulls off a heist that involves Bookem Woodbine, Balthazat Getty, Matthew Schulze and Daryl Hannah, but the problem is that Val Kilmer, a corrupt cop was going to do the heist. all im saying is that Slater and Kilmer do a great cat and mouse game but they should'nt of been in this mess. with wooden characters, but sometimes good action, specifically when the team turns on one another and kills each other over the money. could've been better with different leads October 23, 2003

crazy fun

call me crazy. go ahead but i liked it. i thought it was fun action. May 6, 2003

Half-Baked

Christian Slater reunited with Val Kilmer reminds us of the high tension action flick "True Romance." But no more is seen the burning power generated by the Tarantino-scripted film; instead, in "Hard Cash" you only see a banal B-action flick with wasted opportunities for any of those involved.

The story is rather simple: master thief Slater and his cohorts attempt to do their final job as Kubrick's "The Killing," but realize that the money they get are all marked by FBI. They have to wait another day for money laundering, but while waiting, crooked agent Val Kilmer steps in, to extort money from them.

As the mildly interesting opening of the film shows, "Hard Cash" has slightly comical flavor, not taking itself so seriously. OK, but with what little humor in there soon gone away, the film goes on and on without much to boast of. Though the heist scenes are shot competently, the suspense comes very few between the acts, so even its 90 minutes running time looks very tedious. And obligatory explosions and car chase are, to be honest, very cheap.

The leading players, including Slater, Kilmer, and Daryl Hannah might not impress you, but the supporting cast are interesting -- see, for example, Balthazar Getty ("Lost Highway"), Bokeem Woodbine ("3000 Miles to Graceland"), Sara Downing (TV's "Roswell"), William Forsythe ("The Rock"), and Verne Troyer (Mini-Me of "Austin Powers" sequels). But they have no moment to really show something they can, possibly except for Troyer's "contigency plan" and even he, or always reliable Getty or Forsythe cannot save the show. So, what can you expect from the leads, who plays the characters we don't care much?

Even Kilmer's and Slater's fans would be dismayed with their "acting," because they don't show any. Those who like them should wait for a Lenny Harlin film "Mindhunters" where they are sure to live up with our expectations. February 10, 2003

Lacks a sense of style...

This so-so DTV flick starring surprisingly big names like Christian Slater, Val Kilmer, Verne Troyer, and Daryl Hannah somehow manages to deliver very little out of its premise and makes little use of its capable cast. The plot skips from one heist failure to another, but delivers little in the way of action or witty dialogue. Val Kilmer is given little to do as our bad guy and Christian Slater isn't cool enough as the good guy. The film suffers from a poor script and horrendously uninspired directing. Watching it is kind of like watching someone go through their morning routine. It does all it needs to do, but doesn't add anything interesting. What this movie needs is a better script and cooler music. The movie, however, isn't bad enough to get the dreaded one star rating. January 22, 2003

More reviews at Amazon.com ...