The Misfits (2021 film)

The Misfits
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Renny Harlin
Screenplay by	Robert Henny Kurt Wimmer
Story by	Robert Henny
Produced by	Mansoor Al Dhaheri Kia Jam Qais Qandil Rami Jaber Jalal Abu Smaeer Dean Altit (line producer)
Starring	Pierce Brosnan Rami Jaber Hermione Corfield Jamie Chung Mike Angelo Tim Roth Nick Cannon
Cinematography	Denis Alarcón Ramírez
Edited by	Colleen Rafferty
Music by	Lasse Enersen Trevor Rabin
Production companies	Film Gate Productions RNG Entertainment The Misfits Project K.Jam Media Highland Film Group
Distributed by	The Avenue Entertainment
Release dates	June 3, 2021 (2021-06-03) (South Korea) June 11, 2021 (2021-06-11) (United States)
Running time	94 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$15 million
Box office	$1.6 million

The Misfits is a 2021 American heist action film directed by Renny Harlin and written by Robert Henny and Kurt Wimmer. The film stars Pierce Brosnan, Rami Jaber, Hermione Corfield, Jamie Chung, Mike Angelo, Tim Roth, Nick Cannon, and Qais Qandil. It was released in South Korea on June 3, 2021, and was released in the United States on June 11, 2021, by The Avenue Entertainment. The film was a box-office bomb and received negative reviews.

Plot

Richard Pace is a professional thief, and prison escapee. Schultz, owner of several private prisons (three of which Pace has escaped from), learns Pace is being released from one of his prisons, but he escapes the day before, when Schultz comes to visit.

Pace only stayed in the prison for information about the wealthy 'The Prince', who is currently in LA. He tries to steal the Prince's valuable watch collection, with Schultz and the FBI behind. He suddenly realizes it is a trap set by The Prince. Forced to choose between them, Pace chooses the former, who takes him to his private plane. There, he meets three others: Ringo - a locksmith and master of disguise, Wick - an explosives expert, and Violet - a deadly martial artist-- The Misfits.

En route to Abu Dhabi, the Misfits are briefed: Schultz laundered money taken from a Brotherhood, converting it into gold. He is keeping it hidden in a safe in another of his prisons, located in the fictional country of Jazeristan. The Misfits plan to steal the gold so it is not used to fund terrorist attacks, but they need Pace's help.

Pace initially refuses, but after meeting with his daughter Hope, he changes his mind. Insisting on 50% of the gold they steal, the Misfits tell them that noone is keeping it. Pace starts to leave, but is stopped when he learns Hope is behind it all.

While preparing the infiltration of Jazeristan prison, the Misfits learn the Brotherhood's leader Abu Hirawa has sent his right-hand man Jason Quick to collect gold bars from Schultz. However, the Misfits swap the case. Enraged, Hirawa kills Quick, then warns Schultz he is coming directly to Jazeristan to get the gold bars from him, on the same day as the heist.

Once in Jazeristan, Ringo disguises himself and convinces the warden the kitchen ovens need to be replaced. On the day they are replaced, Pace and Wick switch places with The Prince's contacts, disguising themselves as prisoners. While moving the ovens, Pace sees a statue honoring Schultz, which he damages.

The next day, they poison the cafeteria food, causing major vomiting and diarrhea in most of the prisoners, so multiple prisoners are relocated to a nearby hospital via ambulances. Suspicious, Schultz believes that Pace is in Jazeristan to steal his gold, so asks his men to locate him.

Meanwhile, Ringo comes to the prison disguised as the owner of a sanitation company, telling the warden he’ll need to bring people in with hazmat suits. Pace and Wick enter the prisoners’ bathroom directly above the safe, under the guise of cleaning it, while Hope parks a car outside. Wick drills through the safe, which he fills with gas then lights it, blowing open the safe door. Simultaneously, Hope’s car explodes to convince the guards the explosion only came from the car.

Afterwards, Pace and Wick remove the gold from the safe room. Just before, Wick photographs it with his phone, attaching it to a security camera inside. Meanwhile, Schultz, realizing the car explosion was a diversion, checks the safe’s camera. At first, they only see Wick’s photo, but when Schultz asks to zoom in, the camera doesn’t move. Schultz finds the gold is gone, so tells the guards to lock down the prison. , a gurney moves past him, dropping a gold bar. Believing that Pace has used the gurneys and ambulances to move the gold, he orders his men to check the ambulances. However, they find nothing.

At the prison, when Schultz sees an unfamiliar sanitation truck drive past, he and his men follow it through the desert. It stops in front of The Prince's military plane. Schultz opens the trunk, instead of finding the gold, it is empty. Then The Prince, Ringo, and two masked others exit the truck.

Schultz is angry, but is calmed when he hearing from his men, who supposedly have Hope. He gives the kill order, then hangs up. However, Hope removes her mask, and introduces herself. Schultz’s men had actually tied up Violet, who attacks them all and leaves.

When the angry Schultz pulls a gun, he is then held at gunpoint himself by military forces from The Prince’s country. They escort him towards Hirawa's car. Although Hirawa understands Schultz is not at fault, he tells him that justice must be delivered.

Ringo, Wick, and two of the Prince’s men (who had already infiltrated the prison), had used Schultz’s statue to create a mold, then melted the gold so it was in the shape of the damaged statue. After painting it, Ringo then left the prison as someone coming to take the statue for repairs.

After reuniting in Abu Dhabi, Hope and Pace officially join the Misfits, as a news report mentions how a large donation was given to charity, and that the price of gold is on the rise.

Cast

• Pierce Brosnan as Richard Pace
• Nick Cannon as Ringo
• Rami Jaber as The Prince
• Hermione Corfield as Hope Pace
• Jamie Chung as Violet
• Mike Angelo as Wick
• Tim Roth as Schultz
• Qais Qandil as Jason Quick
• Mansoor al-Feeli as Hirawa
• Samer al-Masry as Hassan

Production

According to Harlin, he and Brosnan had "been looking for a project to collaborate on for some time".

The project was first announced on February 12, 2019 at the Berlin International Film Festival's European Film Market. Filming locations include Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Los Angeles. Principal photography commenced a week later.

Release

The Misfits had its world premiere in South Korea on June 3, 2021. The Avenue Entertainment in association with Highland Film Group distributed the film on June 11, 2021.

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval score of 17% based on 26 reviews, with an average rating of 3.70/10. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 25 out of 100 based on 11 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".

Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Recipient(s)	Result	Ref.
2022	Golden Raspberry Awards	Worst Director	Renny Harlin	Nominated
		Worst Supporting Actor	Nick Cannon	Nominated
		Worst Screenplay	Screenplay by Robert Henny and Kurt Wimmer; Story by Robert Henny	Nominated

Controversy

The film has been controversial in Qatar due to some real life negative references to Qatar to "terror" financing and explicit references to the Muslim Brotherhood as "terrorists" with Yusuf al-Qaradawi as their mastermind. The film is financed as well as co-produced by an Emirati production company, and given the involvement of Emirati media in propagating this narrative against Qatar at least since the first Qatar diplomatic crisis combined with Doha News reporting anti-Qatar plot elements in the film's content. Initially announced as "Coming Soon" in the Qatari subsidiary of Dubai-headquartered Vox Cinemas, the one half of film exhibition duopoly in Qatar, with the other half being Novo Cinemas which is also Dubai-headquartered but wholly owned indirectly by Doha-based Elan Group (through their ownership of its parent Gulf Film, a regional film distributor across West Asia and North Africa dealing mostly in foreign films, including but not limited to Hollywood releases) lending to this being the speculated factor behind them not picking this film up for exhibition not just in Qatar, but across all of the national markets they operated in, including UAE. As the backlash grew with leaked stills from South Korean release leading credence to discord over anti-Qatar "propaganda" embedded in the film, Emirati-owned Vox Cinemas ultimately shelved the film's planned release in Qatar, with press release confirming the move by 1 July 2021, the previously announced release date.

External links

• The Misfits at IMDb