211 (2018) - Review

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211 is a drama/crime film starring Nicolas Cage as Mike Chandler, a policeman who has seemingly lost everything in his life after the passing of his wife and has thrusted himself into his work at the expense of other relationships in his life, especially his daughter, Lisa (Sophie Skelton). Chandler's partner, Steve MacAvoy, is Lisa's husband, and tries to help repair the estranged family's relationship by announcing their recent pregnancy. They are assigned to have a bullied black high school student, Kenny (Michael Rainey Jr.) participate in a mandated ride-along as punishment for being caught fighting his bullies back. Meanwhile, four mercenaries plot to rob a bank for a sum that they feel is due to them from a man who burned them in Afghanistan. This money was intentionally sent to a bank inside of the U.S. before the mercenaries could steal it in Afghanistan. These parties intersect each other while the robbery has commenced and the two officer's focus is to remove the student from the scene safely.

From the synopsis alone, it can be gathered that there is a lot in this movie. Chandler is close to retirement, MacAvoy are expecting a child - motivations for characters that usually indicate that they might not make it out of the film alive. These tropes are laid on thick, possibly to ratchet up tension in the audience. Kenny, who does not seem to be trusting of the police, indicated by him filming a routine call to a gas station where it seems the two police target a black adult out of nowhere and the student records the police interaction on his cell phone. This is after he is punished for standing up for himself against bullies (all white) shoving his head in a urinal, the school authorities (teacher and principal both white) threatening to expel him for the incident, and his mother expressing her concern that the punishment is her child placed in the back of a police cruiser for an unjust "zero-tolerance" policy. Recording this interaction echoes to an earlier interaction between the two police partners where Chandler complains to MacAvoy that policework is getting more complicated and burdensome with more accountability put into place, one of the many motivations for his consideration for retiring from the police force. 

The mercenaries that are robbing the bank have the operation down to a "t" and is going smoothly until the police decide to investigate their getaway vehicle for a parking violation in front of the bank. Their loyalty to each other is never questioned, and their robbery would have succeeded if not for the police intervention into a minor traffic violation. The police all have the sense of family as well, holding down the scene for SWAT backup as they move in lock-step, supporting one another despite the bank robbers gunning them down with military weapons. 

211 is unflinching in its want to portray the ties that families have. There are 2 sets of bonds that the movie focuses on: Familial bonds - Husband/Wife, Father/Daughter, Father/Son, Mother/Son - and camaraderie - police and military. Cage's performance of Mike Chandler feels surprisingly authentic. His unyielding commitment to his job as a policeman, to protect and serve not only Kenny, but his family as well. Even though he gives the kid in his charge a difficult time about the official reason he's riding along, he shows heart while Kenny is detailing the ways that he has been wronged. I can see many different story beats that this film could focus on, but it finds itself too busy. Busy enough that there has been no mention until now of an INTERPOL agent (Alexandra Dinu) who travelled from Afghanistan to Massachusetts to assist the arrest of the mercenaries. There has been no mention of her to this point because I cannot piece together what the character contributes to the story. There is an insistence in using her character as much as possible, but again, I cannot be sure what the value add to that strategy is. 211 tries to be a jack of all trades, but is a master of none. Not even a strong performance from Cage can salvage this plot in the span of 87 minutes.