The Outfit; Grade: B+
The Outfit tells a story about a cutter named Leonard (Mark Rylance) whom owns a jacket fitting shop in Chicago in the 50’s/60’s. Leonard is encountered by a couple gangsters named Richie (Dylan O’Brien) and Francis (Johnny Flynn), whom come to the shop every other day as they check the cutter’s mailbox, which normally consists of the sizes of the width and length of the jackets to be made. The couple gangsters uncover envelopes whom are from a gang known as “The Outfit”, as they pose a threat upon their gang. One random night, Richie has been shot as he and Francis come into the store unannounced, as the gentlemen held a secret tape in which poses a threat on The Outfit. So it appears Leonard is in a sticky situation, as the gangsters have him involved in this situation, as there is no turning back until the situation is cleared up.
From the poster I assumed this was going to be some kind of typical British spy kind of film… Oh boy was I WAY OFF! Given my assumption: I was going into this hoping it be somewhat entertaining at least, after all the two poster designs look very promising to say the least. Well not only was I surprised in what kind of film I was partaking in, I was also very surprised by just how good this film was as well.
I was pleasantly surprised by how engaging and tense this film was, despite being all shot in one location. It’s a crime gangster dramatic story you normally don’t see too often these days, I honestly can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a film like this so it was honestly very refreshing to experience especially in 2022. The story itself from the opening minute of the cutter, throughly explaining how to make a jacket… I was on board as I knew right away, this was def going to be an old school kind of film.
It does start off a bit slow, as we’re getting well acquainted with the shop, the owner, Mable (Zoey Deutch) whom is the cutters right hand woman in the shop, the customers. But once we discover there is gangs involved here, as it escalates to a gang member being shot as they come as an unexpected visitor, involving this mysterious tape… The film suddenly becomes a throughly engaging crime suspense story, as your wondering how exactly can this ordinary cutter get out of this situation, in which he has no involvement of?!
The story then on is well crafted and throughly witty, as it comes up with such neat tricks in which you didn’t see coming. Including a character or two involvement in this situation, in which you really did not see coming as it becomes a throughly successful twist. The third act especially as I would like to describe it as Bad Ass… Like all these reveals and what goes on in these sequences, like it’s so freaking cool. Plus there are a couple well executed gun violent sequences, especially the one standoff ordeal in the third act.
I enjoyed majority of the performances in this film, I thought Mark Rylance was honestly perfect for this role, as he did a very excellent job as I also felt the character Leonard to be quite enjoyable. I enjoyed the Costume Design very much so, fitting in this time period while also showcasing just how properly mannered people used to be back in the day in terms of fashion and style.
There’s only a couple complaints I have with this film. Sometimes I wish I could experience went on in terms of seeing what had happen in the sequences between the gangs, I felt it would’ve made this film even better if we were to see those sequences. Finale was kind of so-so for me, I felt the sequence before would’ve been a better conclusion to wrap up the story, as I felt the sequence after was kind of silly despite what had just happen to a character previously.
Overall, The Outfit was honestly an impressive surprise, as I thought this was a pretty damn good film. I highly recommend checking this one out, it’s definitely a throughly entertaining film you’ll highly appreciate I do say so. -Mitch Smietana