The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

Bruce Willis sleepwalks his way through yet another generic role in Steven C. Miller’s Marauders; a muddled and a painfully formulaic actioner which fails to offer anything even remotely original, relying instead on its let’s-over-explain-everything approach and a handful of semi-exciting action set-pieces to deliver any kind of thrill.

Scripted by Michael Cody and Chris Sivertson, Marauders opens with a seen-it-all-before scene where a group of masked men decide to burst into a bank – owned by a steely business tycoon and President of Cincinnati Bank Hubert (Willis) – to pull off a relatively complicated heist. Walking away with three million dollars pulled out of a specific safety deposit box, FBI Agent Montgomery (Meloni), is pulled in to investigate along with his crew, including Stockwell (Bautista), Wells (Grenier) and local cop, Mims (Schaech).

However, as Montgomery and his team begin to figure out the motives of the masked professionals – whose goals clearly go way beyond a get-rich-scheme – more heists hit the city. Suspecting that Hubert is somehow involved in the whole mess, Montgomery and his men dig deeper to uncover the truth behind the robbers who have begun to gain popularity as they continue on their mission of exposing fraud and sharing their wealth with the public.

While on the outside it may seem like Marauders has something to offer – the first half and hour or so in the film at least – the excitement quickly crumples under a series of action-movie clichés, quickly turning the film into a hot ball of mess. In fact, most of Marauders’ problems lie with the script, which not only fails to infuse depth to the story and its characters, but commits the biggest crime in storytelling choosing to tell its way through the story instead of show.

Its familiar brutality, however – especially in the opening minutes of the movie – won’t disappoint the viewers looking for some mindless action, while its steely-blue palette and seemingly constant backdrop of rain is fitting of its predictable setup. In terms of performances, Meloni is solid, if a little wasted, as the no-nonsense agent who expects the best from his team, while everyone else, including the once-great Bruce Willis, is painfully insignificant.

Repetitive, far-fetched and filled with a ridiculous amount of plot holes, there are glimpses of Marauders trying to be more than just another pointless actioner, but, in the end, it reeks of B-movie action standards.