In the cinema, as in most areas of life, one occasionally comes across some strange coincidences. In 1999 the then reigning James Bond, Pierce Brosnan, starred in a heist movie, "The Thomas Crown Affair", about a suave, sophisticated Scottish art thief who becomes entangled with a glamorous female American insurance investigator. And in the same year the original Bond, Sir Sean himself, starred in a heist movie, "Entrapment", about a suave, sophisticated Scottish art thief who becomes entangled with a glamorous female American insurance investigator.
A priceless Rembrandt painting is stolen from an office. Virginia Baker, an investigator working for the painting's insurers, suspects that the culprit is Robert "Mac" MacDougal a well-known international art thief, and is instructed investigate him. She tries to entrap him by claiming that she herself is an art thief and that she needs his help to carry out one of her schemes, the theft of a priceless Chinese mask from an English stately home. Mac does not need the money (he is already extremely wealthy and lives in a luxurious castle in the Scottish Highlands) but cannot resist the challenge of trying to outwit the owner's extremely elaborate security precautions. Having completed the theft of the mask, Mac and Virginia then plan an even bigger job, the theft of $8 billion from a bank. (This particular theft does not involve works of art, but will be accomplished by computer fraud). The scene of the crime is to be the Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Jon Amiel having borrowed Alfred Hitchcock's device of a cliffhanging scene set at a well-known landmark structure. (In 1999 the towers were the world's tallest building).
Like his exact contemporary Clint Eastwood (both were born in 1930), Sean Connery has continued to act in action films throughout his sixties and into his seventies- "The Rock" and "The League of Gentlemen" are other examples- but as with Eastwood his age is generally an important plot point. (Certain other ageing action heroes still insist on taking roles which rally should go to men several decades younger). Here Mac accepts Virginia's assistance in stealing the mask because, in his sixties, he is no longer as athletic as he once was and needs a younger accomplice.
Like most films of this type, "Entrapment" has a complicated plot. Many of the complications, apart from the details of the actual crimes, derive from what might be called a triangle of mistrust. The three parties involved in this triangle are Mac, Virginia and her boss, Hector Cruz. No-one knows whom they can trust. Is Virginia really helping Mac, or is she simply trying to entrap him? Is she working on her own account, planning to betray both Mac and her employers in her own interests? Or is it in fact Mac who is planning to betray Virginia to the police?
For a film that makes glamour its main selling-point, it was a wise move to cast Catherine Zeta Jones as the female lead, as she was probably the most beautiful screen star of the nineties. Apart from the Petronas Towers cliffhanger, the one scene in this film that everyone will remember is the one where the lovely Catherine, dressed in a figure-hugging catsuit, does an elaborate gymnastic routine around network of laser beams during the stealing of the mask. She and Connery work well together despite the big age difference.
For me, one weakness of this film, and of the genre to which it belongs, is that it is based on the sort of moral code that will not bear too close scrutiny. The main rule of heist movies is that the commandment "Thou shalt not steal" does not apply in situations where no-one gets hurt, where the victims are large corporations or hugely wealthy individuals and where the perpetrators are suitably glamorous, especially if they are sexy young women like Catherine Zeta. Yet despite its dubious morality, "Entrapment" is generally enjoyable. I would rate it higher than the Brosnan "Thomas Crown Affair" remake, which suffers by comparison with its predecessor. Like the best heist movies- the original 1967 "Thomas Crown" being a good example- it is slick, glossy fast-moving and does not take itself too seriously. 7/10
