Heist movies at the very least can be entertaining, but the good ones make the robbers sympathetic as you root for their escape much like Oceans 11 or Steve McQueen in The Getaway. William Kaufman’s The Channel is one of those films. It’s an all-out intense thriller that leaves you clinging to the edge of your seat while rooting for the bank-robbing Brothers as they make their escape out of New Orleans. Made with the same intensive film style as classic films like Heat or The Town, you won’t be bored by any means. I can’t always say that about action films, but The Channel does not disappoint. Clayton Crawford and Max Martini are at the top of their game in this cat-and-mouse action film with New Orleans serving as a great third character. Having New Orleans as the setting makes the film a lot better than other heist movies. Right out of the gate, the action starts as you jumped in the middle of what feels like a Call of Duty game, and you don’t know if you’re going to make it out alive. And there’s really no time to slow down as the robbers are trying to make their getaway. I’ve always been a huge fan of William Kaufman’s style of filmmaking because he drops you right in the middle of the action and doesn’t take his foot off the pedal as audiences cling to the hip of all the characters in his films until the very end. There are a lot of films that you can watch bits and pieces and still know what’s going on, but you never want to miss a thing in his films, especially with his attention to detail.

On the surface, this seems like just a simple bank robbery movie with two characters who are fed up with the system and don’t mind killing whoever stands in their way, but as the main characters start to make their getaway you clearly see his true motivations and you can sympathize immediately. Yes, one brother is completely crazy and just wants to fuck with the system, while the other has a clear reason why he’s robbing a bank. No spoilers, but it’s out of love! You will have to watch the film to see what I mean. Max Martini is a great action actor, you always root for his characters, even when he is kind of the bad guy. Clayne Crawford doesn’t get enough praise for how intense of an actor he is and some of the great roles that he’s had over his career. He still has one of the best interpretations of Martin Riggs in Lethal Weapon even though his time on the show was short-lived. But in a lot of ways, both these great actors carry the film only being matched by an intense federal agent that will stop at nothing to catch the criminals.  This is mostly an action thriller and one of my minor critiques is I don’t get to know the characters enough as you do in other films like The Town or Heat.  Then again, Heat was a two-and-a-half-hour movie. The thing is you get just enough with these characters to make them sympathetic despite their reasons. But one of the best parts of this film is an awesome villain. Lucky Johnson plays Nussy who is supposed to clean the money the brothers stole from the bank. He is ruthless and sadistic and very reminiscent of Ving Rhames in Pulp Fiction. I can’t give too much away, but his scenes with the brothers are some of the best in the film.

Overall, the film is made great by a fantastic cast, a lot of local New Orleans actors, and Texas actors against the backdrop of one of the greatest cities in the world. This movie probably wouldn’t have worked as well if it had been filmed in a different city. But it’s the action scenes I keep you watching until the end. Only great filmmakers can film fantastic action scenes and keep you glued. William Kaufman is definitely one of the best directors when it comes to that. The fantastic performances of Clayne Crawford and Max Martini make this a better-than-average heist film. Honestly, I can’t see anybody playing the brothers. Sure, we could always want more of a backstory and maybe that’s what a director’s cut is for, but for an action thriller that will keep you entertained all the way to the end, The Channel does not disappoint especially with the New Orleans nightlife as a backdrop. I especially love the scene on the streetcar as Clayton Crawford’s character is making his getaway. If you’ve ever been to New Orleans and ridden that streetcar, you’ll know how special that scene is. So, if you’re a fan of heist films like The Getaway with Steve McQueen, Heat with Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, or Ben Affleck’s The Town, then this film is in the same league, and you don’t want to miss it. And there’s even a great nod to the Shawshank Redemption. This film may not get the notoriety compared to summer blockbusters like Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny or The Flash or even some of the other big blockbuster movies that have come out this year, but it definitely should and for me, it’s one of the best films I’ve seen in 2023!