The movie is extremely intense and surprisingly (oddly) claustrophobic as most of the film takes place inside of a car. Realizing he's in a lot of trouble, and his family is in danger, the wheelman struggles to figure out who double-crossed him, as he desperately tries to make sure no harm is done to him or his loved ones. So once the stolen money is in his trunk, the wheelman takes off as he was told to do. The caller then threatens him and tells him to leave the two robbers behind. During a bank robbery he gets a call from a mysterious unknown caller. Grillo plays a getaway driver that goes only by wheelman. It's received mostly positive reviews from critics, and it was released on Netflix through their streaming site. Jeremy Rush made his feature filmmaker debut writing and directing the movie. It stars Frank Grillo in the title role, and it costars Garret Dillahunt, Caitlin Carmichael, Wendy Moniz, Shea Whigham and Slaine. 'WHEELMAN': Four Stars (Out of Five) An action flick about a getaway driver that's in a race to survive after he's double-crossed during a bank robbery. Of course, there was no way that Rush could have kept 'Wheelman's' ex and his daughter out of the narrative because he must be vulnerable or the villains wouldn't have an edge on him. Exciting, fast-paced, but never gory, "Wheelman" boasts great atmospheric cinematography and wicked suspense. Everything is action, action, action, without nonsense and rippling with lots of gritty, to the point, profane dialogue, and an occasional surprise. At the same time, he must keep his wits, make sure that his 13-year old daughter doesn't get pregnant, and save his ex-wife who has been kidnapped by the same people who want the $230-thousand dollars that the robbers stole from the bank. The rest of the evening, our hero is careening around the city, disposing of bodies, blasting his way out of one shoot-out, and engineering a deal that will square him with the mob. Eventually, he reaches his usual handler, Clay (Garret Dillahunt of "Looper"), and he learns that things have gone sideways. Frantically, 'Wheelman' puts the hammer down and leaves the two hoods standing in the parking lot. This unknown dude warns him that the two robbers have been told to stash the cash in the trunk and then shoot him. On the phone, 'Wheelman,' who has been struggling to reach the guy who usually sets up his jobs, winds up speaking to another guy. The two gunmen put on masks and head for the bank. As things unfold, 'Wheelman' isn't entirely clear about what he is going to be doing, and his tough-talking, gun-wielding passengers want to know his name. During the movie, our hero keeps chatting to a number of people on his cell phone. Indeed, it is a bad night for an anonymous ex-con known only as 'Wheelman,' and things get off on the wrong foot when he shows up in a conspicuous looking car with a red trunk to chauffeur two thugs, one white and crazy and the other black, to rob a bank after hours. Clocking in at 82 minutes, "Wheelman" is basically pared down to grim essentials. Imagine the Tom Hardy movie "Locke" combined with Luc Besson's "Transporter" thrillers, and you've got the essence of this gripping, often claustrophobic nail-biter that casts Grillo as the eponymous protagonist. Writer & director Jeremy Rush has fashioned a fine neo-noir actioneer with "Wheelman," a Netflix Original, that "Smokin' Aces" helmer Joe Carnahan produced and toplines "End of Watch" actor Frank Grillo. The sidebar story with the thirteen year old daughter and the ex-wife was thrown in for added suspense I guess, but what would it have mattered to the guy on the phone calling the shots if Wheelman himself didn't bring them into the picture? I don't know, it didn't make a whole lot of sense to me, and to top it all off, we never did get to see what Wheelman's getaway car looked like. Not that it mattered, because Clay got himself accidentally killed wrestling over a gun with Wheelman. I thought the motorcycle guy who kept his distance behind Wheelman in the tunnel was an intriguing character, but he didn't last long enough to find out if he was connected to the anonymous voice or to Wheelman's original handler Clay (Garret Dillahunt). What followed was basically an hour and a half of screen time taken up by a car ride with an obligatory vehicle chase thrown in. To my mind, the story never really delivered on the plot it originally laid out with the anonymous voice calling Wheelman (Frank Grillo) from an unknown location. It's been about twenty four hours since I watched the movie and I'm still wondering what the point was.
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