Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

It's a decent story (although it's been done a thousand times before). And there are some noteworthy performances. But, City of Industry has a few faults. Like a slow-as-molasses second half. And a definite lack of a good-guy to root for.

We meet four guys who are going to pull off a jewelry heist in L.A. Jorge is about to go to prison for a few years. He wants to pull off this last job in order to make sure his wife and kids are taken care of, while he's away. Brothers Lee and Roy Egan (Timothy Hutton and Harvey Keitel) have motives of their own, including the need for money to care for their elderly mother, who might have to go into a home. The fourth member of the team is the wildcard. Skip (Stephen Dorff) is in charge of the getaway car. We can tell right away that Skip is going to be trouble. He's too loud, too reckless, and too annoying... You just know that he's going to cause something to go wrong.

Sure enough, the heist is a success, assuming you consider 3 million in diamonds to be a success. But Skip decides he doesn't want to split the proceeds among the members of the team. He decides to eliminate the others, and take the goods for himself. Unfortunately for him, Roy survives.

The rest of the movie watches Roy trying to find Skip in order to take his revenge, and the money.

Basically, the rest of the movie is all about Harvey Keitel. He pretty much carries the rest of the movie by himself. His performance is incredible. With few words, he conveys his thoughts and emotions through his actions and his expressions. He doles out violence - just the right amount - in order to get the information he seeks. And he also forms a friendship with Jorge's wife Rachel (Famke Janssen).

There is some action, but there are also some passages that drag. After the exciting, hyped-up first half, the slowness of the second half of the movie was really a detraction for me.

I also had a problem with the "who to root for" factor. There really was no "good guy" here. I know we're supposed to root for Roy - to find Skip and beat the crap out of him for the double-cross. But let's not forget that Roy is no angel, either. He, too, is a thief. He's just not as mean a thief as Skip, I guess. And I suppose we're also supposed to root for Rachel. After all, she has two little kids to take care of. But does that mean we should really hope she gets some of the stolen money? At what point are we supposed to remember that the money doesn't belong to any of these people? That somewhere, there's a shop-owner who suffered a loss, not to mention the innocent people who got hurt during the heist. None of those folks are seen or heard about beyond the initial scenes in the movie. This movie has us rooting for bad guys to win, and forgets about the real victims.

This is an "ok" movie, one that Harvey Keitel fans should enjoy. But for most of us, I think it can very easily be skipped.

Recommended: No

Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age