Commentary: ‘Lift’ Is A Heist Movie With “Good Guys”

Heist movies have become a genre unto themselves. The stories follow a particular formula that involves forming a team, coming up with a plan, practicing that plan, and then executing it. There have been plenty of spins on this formula to make the stories interesting and engaging, but there’s usually one key factor involving the characters: they are typically always bad guys. This makes sense given that they are trying to steal something. Criminals are good at this sort of thing, and the characters typically embrace the criminal mentality and lifestyle. But the Kevin Hart film Lift does something a little different in that the thieves actually believe they are doing good.

Hart plays Cyrus, the leader of a group that steals art they believe needs to be reclaimed from those who do not appreciate its intrinsic value. The crew doesn’t even like to use the word “steal.” Instead, they use “lift” to describe their jobs. The film’s plot centers around an Interpol agent who essentially captures the crew. However, instead of arresting them, she recruits them to steal gold from a billionaire who plans to use terrorism to make a hefty profit.

There are plenty of stories that paint the thieves as heroes. Such tales usually accomplish this by framing them as antiheroes or have them steal from a villain with far more questionable morality And they certainly do that in this film, but it goes a step further. Cyrus goes out of his way to use specific language that’s not damning and doesn’t frame their actions in a negative light. He truly views his crew as liberators doing good. The legality of their endeavors is irrelevant to who they are as people. What’s important is the moral high ground they take while performing these heists. In that regard, Lift is definitely a different kind of heist movie.

Lift is now streaming on Netflix.