FINDING STEVE MCQUEEN: True Stories Can Only Carry You So Far

Heist films rule. Can we all agree on that? We love the ticking of the clock, we’re excited by the knowledge that we’re rooting for people breaking the law, and emotions amongst those performing the heist are always sure to be running high.

High energy and fast-paced editing, that’s what I’m hoping for when I watch a heist flick. I want speeding cars, sneaking into banks, and the constant threat of being caught. Finding Steve McQueen has these elements, and yet for some reason, I didn’t find myself slipping as easily into the excitement of a good heist film. Most importantly, I wasn’t having fun.

Directed by Mark Steven Johnson, Finding Steve McQueen tells the story of Harry Barber, who finds himself joining a heist team that attempts to steal 30 millions dollars from President Nixon’s secret fund in 1972. Or at least, that’s what the film should be about. Of course, these events transpire but they get buried by other plot lines, characters and themes that really have no place in this film.

A Fresh Take Gone Rotten

Where Finding Steve McQueen is unique, is also where it begins to lose itself as a film. The film opens some time after the heist has been finished, and Harry, (Travis Fimmel) now renamed Steve McQueen after his favorite actor, admits to his girlfriend that he’s been lying about his past. We’re exposed to a member of the heist team after the job is done and he’s changed his name and started a new life.

After the job? That’s fascinating! Most heist films use the big job as the climax of the film. Finding Steve McQueen could have been the answer to the question, “What happens when they get the cash?” But instead, it has so much fun playing with its form that it forgets to tell its story well. It left me feeling the way Adam McKay’s Vice did. What might have been a fascinating true story was muddled under technique for the sake of technique.

Finding Steve McQueen allows itself to jump around in time, as Harry explains to his girlfriend Molly (Rachel Taylor, who has nothing to do in this film, much to the chagrin of me, a die hard fan of Trish in Jessica Jones) what happened during the heist. The flashbacks come and go so quickly that it’s often difficult to keep the timeline of the film straight. A moment where Harry breaks the fourth wall to look at the camera and explain his brother to Molly (and the audience) was nearly clever until they dropped attempting to address the camera in this way for the rest of the film. It’s a testament to how much of a factor consistency of practice is in a good film.

Finding Steve McQueen: Characters Matter!

Like I said, the stakes are part of what make heist films so great. And stakes only matter if we care about the fate of the characters, and to an extent, the characters themselves. But Finding Steve McQueen doesn’t have characters to love. Harry Barber has no clear reason to do this heist, and Travis Fimmel plays him with such an odd mixture of carefree-dummy and brilliant-burglar that we’re not sure if he’s supposed to be an asset or a liability to the team.

Forest Whitaker‘s Howard Lambert, the officer in charge of apprehending Harry Barber, had potential to be one of the film’s more enigmatic characters. His resentment toward the Nixon administration and those above him could have been explored much more deeply. How can Lambert bring in a man that is trying to bring down a President he has no respect for? But Finding Steve McQueen feels afraid to look at its characters this deeply, because, as it will so often remind you, it’s based on a true story.

But just because a story is true, doesn’t mean it’s good. Perhaps, at times, a little fiction can help movies present themselves in a way that will make audiences want to watch them.

Do you have a favorite heist movie? Let me know in the comments below, and check out Finding Steve McQueen to see how it compares to yours.

Finding Steve McQueen is available to rent on Vudu now.