CA$H (2010) Sean Bean

CA$H limped direct to DVD in the UK (after a limited US release, where it made a piss-poor $47, 000 at the Box Office) However, don't let the 'DTV' premier and low returns put you off, what is clearly one of the best crime thrillers of the last decade.



Sean Bean plays Pyke Kubic, an English criminal (replete with 'Ecky Thump' Yorkshire accent) who comes to Chicago to visit his twin brother Reeve, who is banged up for a bank robbery. Reeve tells Pyke that he threw the suitcase of loot off a bridge, before the cops caught him, and that it landed on an old 'Buick' Station-wagon.



The recipient of the windfall is Sam Phelan, who along with his cash-strapped wife, Leslie decide to keep the money (which totals over $600, 000) for themselves, and it's through their materialistic greed (plus their stupidity of paying for everything with Cash) that Pyke tracks them down (via Car Payment receipts)

Pyke (in true TERMINATOR style) knocks on a few wrong doors, in his quest to find the money. He stumbles across Glenn (SHOWGIRLS) Plummer (playing a character called 'Glenn The Plumber') And he also puts the loud-mouthed Plumber (plus a few misconceptions about tough talking Afro-Caribbeans) in their place, bfore moving onto the next address.

(With neither SPEED 3 or SHOWGIRLS 2 on the horizon, Glenn felt a career change was in order)

Next up, Pyke comes across Melvin Goldberg (Legendary character actor, Mike Starr) who it turns out is guilty of theft, but not Reeves swag. The theme of 'We are all corruptible' runs throughout the movie, which somehow helps endear (an otherwise) cold calculating character like Pyke to the audience...Despite his brutal nature, he is no more corrupt than the (supposed) good guys in this movie.

("What does it take to change the essence of a....FUCK IT...Where's the loot?")

Now Pyke wants his money (to the exact penny) and this guy gets paid faster than a bailiff in a Ken Loach movie. So armed with menace, a gun, and an accent that would make John Rhys (Cyborg Cop) Davies weep into his 'Tetley Tea Cup'....he sets about teaching the couple a valuable lesson in life. Kubic Pyke is the bailiff from hell (thank fuck he doesn't work for Northumbrian Water, otherwise i'd be moving house.......pronto)



The hapless (albeit, naive) Phelan's find that Bean is a immovable force in their lives, and that their initial cover-up of the cash (plus Beans imposing persona) prevents them from ringing the police. When Pyke (literally) moves into their house, he gives them five days to find the remaining $13, 000 owed, thus forcing the young couple to re-mortgage their house (which had only just been paid off, rather smugly, weeks before)


When the overall figure is still not met (and Leslie's offer of a sexual currency spurned) Pyke forces the Phelan's to rob convenience stores. At first disgusted and reluctant, the Phelan's soon embrace the 'outlaw' lifestyle, and find out a few home truths about each other, along the way.

(Konica...Colours...are calling you)

Sean Bean is great in this movie. His Yorkshire accent adds to proceedings, and makes his many foul mouthed rants all the more funnier. The other actors are ok, but are rightfuly outshone by Bean (who seems even more out of place, alongside the americans, due to his yorkshire accent) which turns the most basic of insults into something side-splitting.

Witness as Bean utters such lines as:

"I refuse you're offer of pussy!"

"Jew motherfucker!"

"Trail was as hot as a street whores snatch!"

CA$H defies it's STV credentials, and keeps the viewer engaged, whilst giving food for thought afterwards. I prefer a well made, tightly plotted thriller like this, over a dozen Tarantino homage-fests. And fans of good old fashioned (down to earth) movies, should embrace this film as a breath of fresh air, in a sea of CGI diarrhoea that clogs up the cinemas of recent. The final scene, screams out for a sequel, but i dare say it's ultra low box office reception will deny us this. However i can wholeheartedly recommend this cracking crime thriller/comedy/morality play/DVD release.