With previous roles ranging from a rockstar to a Harkonnen space psychopath Austin Butler is a bit less otherworldly this summer. In “Caught Stealing,” released on Aug. 29 in theaters across the country, he plays an ex-baseball player named Hank Thompson, who gets caught in a blood-splattered skirmish over a highly contested sum of cash.
“Caught Stealing,” — an adaptation of the 2004 novel by Charlie Huston — transports audiences into a 1998 era crime-infested New York City. The film’s director Darren Aronofsky is known for films such as “Requiem for a Dream” and “Black Swan.” However, “Caught Stealing” differs tonally from his more famous works in the way that it takes itself less seriously. The film is a fast-paced crime thriller that can perhaps be comparable to a Marvel movie in terms of the starpower of the cast, emotional depth and comedic timing — but there’s a lot more blood and a lot less magic.
The setting, a pre-gentrified NYC containing a grimy criminal underworld, contributes greatly to the film’s atmosphere.
“The story has clearly stoked Aronofsky’s nostalgia for the older, rougher East Village and environs, an area that is lovingly memorialized here with plenty of graffiti, mounds of garbage and a conspicuous shout-out to Kim’s Video,” Manohla Dargis wrote in her New York Times review. “The halls in Hank and Russ’s building have been art-directed to peeling perfection, and there’s a sticker giving the finger to the mayor (‘Giuliani is a jerk’) on a battered apartment door.”
Surprisingly, the mess Thompson gets himself into begins with his reluctant decision to cat sit for his punk rock neighbor Russ (Matt Smith). Thompson then gets beat up by Russian gangsters, loses a kidney, finds a mysterious key hidden in a rubber poo in the litter box and falls deep into a criminal conspiracy.
The film’s pacing can be described as caffeinated. The cast drops like flies, and while the characters double-cross each other in a cat-and-mouse chase across the city, “Caught Stealing” does not dwell upon their deaths for long. An illustrious cash prize is an invisible force that moves the different criminal factions, as well as Thompson, who is caught in the thick of it all. However, in a deeper reading, the conflict at hand has more to do with human nature than meets the eye.
While “Caught Stealing” is different from the rest of Aronofsky’s filmography, the essence of the characters and the struggle at the heart of the film contains his thematic signature: “The conflict between order and chaos,” and the his characters’ ability to withstand the extremes of physical pain, as Richard Brody said in his The New Yorker review.
“In Aronofsky’s cinematic universe, the ability to endure physical punishment functions as a touchstone for power, and, in his best work, torment takes on an intensely intimate dimension, creating extreme contrast with the larger dramatic landscape on which the action is stretched,” Brody said.
This certainly checks out, as Thompson withstands beatings and torture and must out-finesse seasoned criminals. As the film progresses, he takes more agency over his own fate while remaining true to his morals. Nightmares and mistakes from the past also haunt Thompson. In high school, he got into an alcohol-induced motor accident that killed his friend and destroyed his baseball career. Although he was responsible for his friend’s death, he felt more remorse towards the loss of his future. However, the audience can see the care he has for his loved ones and how he refuses to become a killer. This, combined with Austin Butler’s charm, is a winning combination that makes it easy for the audience to root for Thompson.
“Tonally, the film is perhaps Aronofsky’s most accessible and ‘mainstream’ work to date. It’s thematically simple and doesn’t peel back the layers too deeply on the grit and grime of NYC or its people,” Awais Irfan wrote in his The Hollywood News review. “Still, it has dark and violent undertones and doesn’t shy away from the violence either.”
“Caught Stealing” is not a movie that ventures deep into the psychology of its characters and should rather be enjoyed for its portrayal of a bygone era of New York City, as well as its humor, emotion, vibrant characters and entertaining story. For these reasons, “Caught Stealing” is a solid summer watch that lightly touches upon all of these bases.
Tessa Kang is an Arts & Entertainment Staff Writer. She can be reached at tokang@uci.edu.
Edited by June Min and Annabelle Aguirre