Heist (2015 film)

Luke Vaughn, a man working in a Southern casino run by "The Pope", has a sick daughter in a hospital, with medical bills he fails to pay, and further needs some $300,000, for her surgery. Yet, Pope refuses his plea for a loan, and when Vaughn insists, Pope fires him, which leads to his being beaten by the boss's right-hand man "Dog".

Vaughn is approached by security guard Cox and agrees to rob the money, which the casino is laundering for the mob. After a $3 million heist, the masked thieves are intercepted by Dog's henchmen. A gun battle ensues, wounding one of the thieves, and once their getaway driver escapes in terror, the rest are forced to hijack a city bus number 657. Police Officer Kris Bauhaus, whose car is parked a half block from the bus stop, hears the gunshots coming from the bus and pursues them and alerts reinforcements to join the chase and post a road block.

Pope orders Dog to retrieve the money. Meanwhile, Cox nearly shoots Kris, and Vaughn writes a passenger's phone number on a bus window, to enable contact with the gang, and warn Kris that Cox will kill passengers if the police are not instructed to clear the roadblocks. Kris obeys and Vaughn orders Bernie the bus driver to ram the roadblock, allowing the bus to enter the interstate highway. The next morning, the wounded thief is dying. Vaughn asks one of the passengers, a veterinarian student, to take care of him. Cox orders Bernie to head to Galveston, Texas; unfortunately, the bus is running low on fuel, so Vaughn calls for a fuel tanker.

Detective Marconi joins forces with Kris when she is about to be relieved from duty. Marconi monitors the bus via a police helicopter. Cox makes a call to Jono, an old man who aided them in planning the robbery, informing Jono that they have the money and are on the way. While refueling, Vaughn allows two hostages (Pauline and a young boy) to be released. Kris discovers that Vaughn pulled the robbery because of his ill daughter. Meanwhile, Dog learns the location of Jono through a police radio scanner.

With the wounded thief suffering blood loss, Vaughn calls Marconi to board the bus with a medical emergency kit. He boards and takes a call from Pope, tossing the phone to Vaughn, revealing Marconi's affiliation with Pope. Shortly thereafter, a SWAT team attacks the bus and pops the bus tire, causing it to crash to a stop near a bridge. Most of the passengers receive minor injuries.

With police surrounding the bus, Cox holds Bernie hostage in front of the cops and on live TV. Bernie is presumably shot dead by Cox, but it is revealed that Vaughn shot his partner Cox instead, saving Bernie. Vaughn receives a call from his daughter saying that the money has arrived to pay the hospital bills. Vaughn releases all the hostages and the bus departs once the tires are repaired. The police authorities follow the bus but find out Vaughn has escaped and only Bernie is inside.

Vaughn arrives at Jono's, but finds Dog has killed him. Dog takes Vaughn prisoner by knocking him out with a shot of rock salt from a shotgun and they are joined by Pope and Marconi back on the bus, though Pope soon kills Marconi. Vaughn shows them where the remaining $2.7 million is hidden on the bus, then explains that Pauline was not a pregnant passenger but is actually his sister, who hid the missing $300,000 in her "tummy". Kris had deduced what Pauline was doing and did not stop her from paying the medical bill. Dog is infuriated and is about to burn Vaughn alive, threatening to go after Vaughn's daughter next, when Pope shoots Dog dead. A grateful Vaughn is allowed to get away. Pope waits on the bus and lights a cigarette as the police arrive.

On November 6, 2013, at the American Film Market sale, it was announced that film production and financing company Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films acquired a heist script, then titled Bus 757, from writer Stephen Cyrus Sepher.[1] The script, about a card dealer who puts a crew together to rob a bank and hijack a city bus, with an announced budget of $15 million budget, was being produced by Randall Emmett, George Furla, Alexander Tabrizi and Sepher.[1] On May 17, 2014, it was announced that Scott Mann would direct, Lionsgate would distribute, and Robert De Niro would star in the lead role of "The Pope", the casino owner whose money is the target of the heist.[4]

The title of the film had been changed to Bus 657 by September 24, 2014, when Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Kate Bosworth, Dave Bautista and Gina Carano joined the cast of the film, which also added Max Adams as an additional screenwriter.[5] On October 13, it was confirmed that screenwriter and actor Sepher was spotted on the set, later confirmed to be performing as one of the robbery crew.[6][7] Morris Chestnut was spotted on the set on October 15, with his casting as Derrick "Dog" Prince confirmed two days later, acting as "The Pope's" right-hand man who has to bring the money back before the cops seize it and realize it's dirty.[8][9]

Filming was scheduled to take place in Baton Rouge, Louisiana,[10] but was moved to Mobile, Alabama, where filming began on October 13, 2014.[11][6] On October 15, De Niro was spotted filming in the Crystal Ballroom of The Battle House Hotel, which had been transformed into a 1940s-style casino called "The Swan Casino".[12] The same day, scenes were being filmed on the corner of Royal and St. Francis streets in downtown Mobile.[8] On October 21, filming was taking place on the Causeway, which was closed by the police from the eastbound entrance of Bankhead Tunnel to east of the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park.[13]

In October 2014, at the American Film Market sale, the film (under its second title, Bus 657) was sold to a number of international distributors, including Lionsgate International for the UK.[14] The film was released on November 13, 2015 in a limited release and through video on demand.[3]

The film was poorly received by film critics. As of June 2020, the film holds a 29% approval rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 28 reviews with an average score of 4.53 out of 10.[15] Metacritic gave the film 37/100, generally unfavorable, based on a weighted average rating of 11 reviews.[16]

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• Heist at Rotten Tomatoes