King of Thieves has a passable crack at being a watchable and entertaining film, but is also ultimately let down by some pedestrian pacing and being far too in love with the one idea it has: That old blokes working as villains is inherently hilarious.
Wearing its influences on its sleeve, The King of Thieves decides to cash in on the genre's previous glories while forgetting to bring any sense of style or grit to proceedings itself, leading to a disappointingly rote and conventional crime-caper.
This is a risky device, but it works, the postmodern playfulness sending an implicit message: it's OK to like Caine and company, but be repelled by the men they're playing.
The result is decidedly uneven and lacking in drama, with Courtenay giving a bumbling performance that is out-and-out comedy, while Broadbent tries to give us the chills.
