Armor (2024)

1 Star (out of 4)

Truck Flop

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

While it has an intriguing small-scale idea, there's just too much that's illogical and inconsistent in Justin Routt's action-thriller Armor; not to mention that, even at 89 minutes, it feels stretched thin.

James Brody (Jason Patric) is a former police officer who now works driving an armored truck, alongside his grown son, Casey (Josh Wiggins). At dinner with Casey's pregnant wife (Laney Stiebing), Casey wishes the job had more action. The next day, Casey picks up his father from an AA meeting, and they're off to work. Something's seems wrong, however, when they are asked to pick up a mystery case that's not listed on their manifesto.

James's suspicions are confirmed when the pair are chased by several vehicles. They turn onto a bridge and find that they have been led into a trap. A criminal who calls himself Rook (Sylvester Stallone), and his crew — Smoke (Dash Mihok), Echo (Joshua David Whites), Viper (Jeff Chase), Tex (Blake Shields), and Match (Martin Bradford) — attack, and an explosive device turns the truck on its side. James and an injured Casey find themselves trapped, desperately in need of a plan.

Early in Armor, the James character is shown to be abusing alcohol. He wakes up and slams aspirin and Tums, and then gulps some vodka from an elaborate hiding place (inside a modified orange juice carton). He also carries a water bottle full of vodka. He not only participates in AA meetings, but he leads them. Isn't it possible that, either someone at the meetings, or his own son, would notice this level of drinking?

Then, James is basically bullied into taking the mystery case onto his truck, when he had every right to refuse it, which would have ended the trouble before it started. There's also a lot of (too much?) talking, father and son about their deceased wife/mother (played in flashbacks by Erin Ownbey), and arguing among the villains. Stallone — second-billed behind Patrick — occupies a rare role as a villain, but has very little to do (except at the end, when he does something blatantly illogical and borderline ridiculous).

And even though the movie makes a big deal about things like the heat in the back of the truck or a lost pen-light, it doesn't incorporate them into the story. In the end, this compact little scenario misses an opportunity to be a taut thriller. Instead, Armor wanders all over the place in search of some suspense or drama, and finding very little.