I know well this low-budget, badly-made, crazily violent V crap that you meet in video stores so dusty on a deserted shelf, or find on TV always late at night without many ads during it. Thank god, this time it wasn't that crap, and surprisingly it got a meaning as well.Hollywood mob movies lately are nothing but Scorsese' pieces with a historical look (Goodfellas, Casino), the shoot'm up fares (Snatch), and the spoofs (Jane Austen's Mafia!). Now (This Thing of Ours) is just a humble movie that doesn't have the true stories, the stars, or the great factors yet it's surely still watchable.It's a nice time. I liked the structure of this script, it's solid. The idea of the heist was truly wild. The soundtrack was primitive yet a bit interesting. Although most of the cast are the minor actors of Scorsese' movies, but oh my god they did so well, especially Frank Vincent who fitted in his role finely as the boss. Some of the rest did BAD. And of course I'm talking about guys like the one who played the role of the police officer, now OH MY GOD what a criminal! This guy looked like someone who escaped from the audience after torturing them in his high school's play (and it's better for you pal to continue running !). While Christian Maelen was the one who looked charismatic the most, the 3 leads weren't the best actors altogether, delivering deadly usual work. However I can't blame them fully, since it's not about acting in the first place. The whole deal is about the heist and its consequences, not about the deep characters or something of this sort!Some points bothered me. I mean what was the need to see that haughty businessman got beaten in his office for money he didn't pay ?! I think we all know, even from other movies, that these guys aren't joking about being rough, so it's not a thing to design a couple of scenes just to assure it !!Plus, there was no style at all. And I'm not talking about Scorsese here, but the axiomatic things. The artistic personality of the movie is so poor. The camera-work got all the time an easy way to do all the matters without making a fine suspense or leading certain feeling. I felt usual, sometimes low, TV all over it. Simply it got nothing to embody anything. While the dialog was nice and natural, I just felt something wrong with the way most of the characters were shown. Do these Italian-American still look like this? Because if Scorsese is right then these people are still talking and dealing exactly the same since the 1970s! In a word the stereotypes were just PURE and MANY !..And that's why James Caan got to be this old-fashioned, board, paralyzed godfather. He maybe knew that there is nothing that new. So he got to be at least special. In fact the presence of Caan is the only coup de maitre this movie achieves, not only because winning his name on the poster (and maybe selling the whole movie due to it), but also for the way his persona was used; since Sonny Corleone himself became, in this movie's world, that helpless non-respected old news. The last scene was an epitome of this movie's real condition. It's meaningful but without very much depths. It's dramatically important but with so modest TV-ish carrying out. And its acting was between good and half good! Well, this is exactly the mistake that this movie does; putting a bit promising stuff in so clumsy hands. Just damn. The crisis of that lead could have been something more attractive whereas he would live without friends anymore or even allies if he got out. But sure this is something to watch in any other movie but this ! It was about a successful heist, then beating the police, the enemies, and the moral choice itself. I loved that it got a meaning anyway about doing the perfidy to be trusted, where family and friends – in the new mafia's, rather the new age's, laws – are not needed as the money or with the money, namely the movie's rule of "no connections". But I believe that the true no-connections this movie has was between its story and any artistic embodiment whatsoever. So clearly "this thing of them" needed a lot to be more sophisticated and glossy.

This movie is a great Mob film. Most people say "No this movie is horrible, its not original" but that is why it is 21st century brilliance. Old school mobsters being persuaded to make billions of dollars in just 3 weeks by up-and-comers, its pretty good to me. And near the end when they kill-off all connections, thats original gangster action. Don't get me wrong it's great but not the greatest, it's different and that is what makes it great. I deeply recommend watching the movie. The actors in this movie are classic guys like some from the critically acclaimed HBO series "The Sopranos". The title "This Thing of Ours" is used throughout the movie to to prove my point. The old-school guys wonder what happened to "this thing of ours" and the new guys want to bring "this thing of ours" to the 21st century. This Thing of Ours is also the term used to describe the Mafia (the literal translation of Cosa Nostra.

This movie is total trash and was directed by a criminal who's is currently serving time as I write this. The idea of the plot, at root, is brilliant and had potential before this fraud of a director and "writer" totally slaughtered their attempt at what could have become a decent movie if fallen into the hands of someone who knows what they are doing. I learned from a credible source that this was a stolen story line.For the large majority, the acting was great, but the casting was overly ambitious, and quite a few parts were out of their appropriate places. This was a failed attempt for the release of a movie that deserved a better sceenplay, casting, and director. From what I personally noticed, it is obvious that the director is someone who's morale is extremely corrupted, distorted, and detached from any integral character, as one can determine from the ending of the movie. I recommend refraining from financially supporting the revenue of this movie by watching it, as the money will be going into the hands of someone who will use it to commit or support heinous crimes. How unfortunate.

I don't know where the negativity in comments is coming from. I don't remember a movie in which young, tech hip criminals are integrated with old line mobsters as a plot. The conflicts and tension resulting from this clash are numerous and nicely developed right up to the closing scene. ********* Spoiler Alert *********** The sit down meeting at which the deal is presented is terrific. Here a billion dollar computer heist is being presented and one of the old guys starts talking about his kid playing video games. Other major conflicts emerge as the "loose ends" are tied up later, and the final scene is terrific as well. All part of the clash in style and values.The weakest part of the movie is the FBI. The characters are way too stereotyped, not well acted, and poorly developed.This film a 1?? Everybody has their own tastes and preferences, but that sounds like somebody has an axe to grind.