Despite having just made one of the worst movies to ever exist (The Whale, if you’ve repressed), Darren Aronofsky decided he could show his face in public again and try his hand at a no frills, street-level thriller with Caught Stealing. In a lovely turn of events, the film is a lot of fun, visceral and propulsive with a real movie star performance from Austin Butler. It feels like the sort of original film (though based on the novel by Charlie Huston, which I’ve not read) that was common during the ‘90s, a throwback with cute references but an interest in telling its own story – with lots of bone breaking violence.
Hank (Austin Butler) is a washed up high school baseball star, unable to hit the majors due to a terrible car crash that left his friend dead and him with a busted knee. He bartends on the Lower East Side, hooks up with a nice paramedic named Yvonne (Zoe Kravitz), and drinks his pain away. But when his punk neighbor Russ (Matt Smith) asks him to look after his cat Bud (Tonic), things go bad almost instantly. Turns out Russ may or may not have hidden away a great deal of cash, with several parties demanding their score. Hank loses a kidney to some Russian goons, leaving him much worse for the wear. Hank is in a constant state of suffering during the film, taking a page from Tom Cruise’s star persona. He plays every action scene scared for his life, alternating between rage and tears. Every injury really hurts, and you feel him getting the crap kicked out of him every time.
This grittiness applies to the entire cast, from two hulking Hasid played by Liev Schreiber and Vincent D’Onofrio to Griffin Dunne as Hank’s cokehead hippie boss. Though everyone is having a blast, Regina King seems to be happiest sinking her teeth into the role as the narcotics detective who may know more than she’s letting on. It’s pulpy fun, with some Black Swan level body horror thrown in for good measure. Matthew Libatique’s stellar cinematography really pays off when we watch Yvonne patch up Hank’s kidney wound with superglue.
Though the tone is absurd at times, the down-to-earth nature of the violence keeps things compelling. The characters actually react to how loud gunshots are! The little details of collateral damage keep Caught Stealing from being just another John Wick ripoff. Though Aronofsky is a grade-A bozo who’s hedging his bets on AI, he cares enough about this era of ‘90s New York to make a real crackerjack picture.
Caught Stealing
2025
Dir. Darren Aronofsky
107 min
Opens Friday, 8/29 @ Kendall Square Cinema, Capitol Theatre, Apple Cinemas Cambridge, Alamo Drafthouse Boston Seaport, and all local AMCs
