We Still Steal the Old Way Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

We Still Steal the Old Way Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 19, 2017

It’s always just a little bit strange when a middling film, one which doesn’t get brickbats thrown at it by critics but which similarly doesn’t exactly get love letters, and one which may do okay at the box office but hardly sets any records, impresses someone somewhere enough to spawn a sequel. That’s evidently what’s happened with We Still Steal the Old Way, a follow up to a film that many have probably never even heard of (or at least seen), 2014’s We Still Kill The Old Way. That film posited Ian Ogilvy as small time crook Richie Archer, who has become an expat but who returns to London when one of his old gang (who just happens to be his brother) meets a grisly fate. We Still Kill the Old Way tried to combine a kind of traditional crime thriller with something perhaps a little more emotionally resonant, especially with regard to Richie’s age and that of some of the street toughs he encountered upon his return. Richie’s back in We Still Steal the Old Way, a film which eschews the “generation gap” aspect of the first film and instead attempts to ply a more traditional caper ambience.

The film begins with a kind of interesting montage during the credits sequence which seems to be implying vast amounts of mayhem at some kind of institution, at least as far as can be made out courtesy of a highly mobile camera and text that intrudes at regular intervals detailing the film’s cast and crew. The first actual scene is a telephone showdown between Ritchie and a nefarious banker whom Richie is trying to convince to return some kind of ill gotten gains. Weirdly, this prelude of sorts turns out to have relatively little to do with the overall thrust of the plot, but it at least quickly details that Richie, despite his criminal past and continuing proclivities toward the shaded if not exactly Dark Side, has a good heart.

The actual bulk of the film concerns the Archer gang’s attempts to help a buddy of theirs named George Briggs (Patrick Bergin), an inmate at a large prison who is desperate to get out because his wife has a terminal illness. It turns out that the whole nasty banker interchange was simply a ruse to get Archer and his cohorts arrested so that they could ostensibly do time in stir to help their friend. But the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry, and Richie is distressed to find a long ago nemesis named Vic Farrow (Billy Murray), who has a major score to settle with Archer.

We Still Steal the Old Way coasts by on the charisma of its talented cast, but with the “young vs. old” element removed, and the “prison break” element a given, things are just kind of plodding and rarely if ever emotionally resonant or (probably even worse) suspenseful or exciting. The film has a somewhat sly humor, since most of the prisoners being shown are a bit long in tooth and not exactly the sort one would expect to spring into action. Agreeable on its own unambitious terms, We Still Steal the Old Way may be one of those films which rather surprisingly spawns its own sequel.

We Still Steal the Old Way Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

We Still Steal the Old Way is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Platform Entertainment Limited with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Platform's PR firm provided only a check disc for the purposes of this review, which I'm assuming is identical to the final retail version. Kind of like the film itself, We Still Steal the Old Way's transfer is perfectly respectable if hardly overwhelmingly impressive. The film has a lot of grading going on, including long sequences bathed in a cool blue, and a big set piece late in the film bathed in pretty rich red tones, both of which tend to deplete fine detail levels at least a bit (more so with regard to the red than the blue). That said, the vast bulk of the film plays out in relatively natural looking lighting conditions, ones that support very good and at times excellent detail levels, especially in close-ups. Fine detail is also very good in the better lighting conditions. There are no issues with image instability and no compression anomalies.

We Still Steal the Old Way Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

We Still Steal the Old Way features a workmanlike DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix which, much like the video component, gets the job done in a completely competent way without providing a ton of overwhelming sonics. The first heist sequence features some good surround activity, as does the climactic showdown (which won't be spoiled here). Otherwise, surround activity comes courtesy of ambient (sometimes pretty echo-y) environmental effects within the confines of the prison the Archer Gang finds themselves confined to. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly on this problem free track.

We Still Steal the Old Way Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Behind the Scenes (1080p; 13:59) is an okay featurette graced at least by some enjoyable interviews with various cast and crew members.

As mentioned above in the video section, since only a check disc was provided for the purposes of this review, I can't comment on any packaging or inserts that may be included in the final retail version.

We Still Steal the Old Way Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

We Still Steal the Old Way suffers from some overly convenient plot machinations and seems a trifle rote virtually every step of the way, but it's at least partially buoyed by a game cast which provides a little grit, albeit grit aged (like fine wine?). The film does also benefit from a generally brisk pace, so that even some of the ludicrous elements flit by quickly enough not to be that annoying. Fans of the first film may get a kick out of this, even though it lacks the generation gap aspect of the first film which gave that film some of its most distinctive content. Technical merits are generally strong for those considering a purchase.