Band of Robbers Movie Review

Band of Robbers (2015)

Rent Band of Robbers on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Aaron Nee &Adam Nee, Mark Twain (novels)
Directed by: Aaron Nee, Adam Nee
Starring: Kyle Gallner, Adam Nee, Matthew Gray Gubler
Rated: --
Watch the trailer

Plot
Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn have grown up, but Tom still seeks treasure.

Verdict
It's a fun retelling of the Tom and Huck legend. It mixes familiar elements and characters with unexpected twists, creating an unintentionally funny adventure only fit for Twain's characters. While the clues and plot are quite contrived, it's not as egregious in a movie like this. In a movie that easily could be a disaster, this is quite competent.
Watch it.

Review
I liked the concept but doubted whether it could do Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer justice. Tom as a cop didn't seem right.
Tom is an awkward, quirky cop, while Huck Finn is up for parole. Tom doesn't seem as capable as what I would have pictured. He seems like he could be the department joke, incompetent even. I hope that's not the case, but two characters like Huck would have robbed this movie of much levity.
Now that Huck is out of jail, Tom wants to create a band of robbers and do something meaningful. It's a comedic plan and setup, silly even.

Band of Robbers - A wild twist on a classic adventure.

Tom thinks Injun Joe has treasure, and he has a plan to rob a pawn shop. On the day of the plan, which is the next day, Tom is assigned a partner. Beck Thatcher, the daughter of the Judge, is Tom's new partner and brings her along to the planned robbery.

It's a comically bad plan and execution, but they succeed basically because the plot requires it. Huck and Tom's discovery of clues is quite contrived. It's less luck and more contrived for the plot. Injun Joe is after the treasure too, but opted not to stop them in the pawn shop.

It takes a few unexpected twists. I never expected a van door to save the plot. I will give the script credit for being well outlined and including a Chekhov's van door. The movie is broken into chapters, a homage to the inspiration. While it's not a great movie, the writing is impressive just because it didn't completely screw this up. It's a competent movie that manages to include these characters much as they appear in the books, albeit grown up.

This pulls a lot of inspiration from the books, managing to include some of the more famous scenes, but it also puts a nice twist on the end. Tom gets to be the hero he always wanted to be.