Synopsis
Liam and Michael are professional safe crackers who meet on a simple job to relieve an office safe from its contents. The catch is a light activated alarm system impelling the men to embark on a pitch black heist.
Pitch Black Heist
2011 Directed by John Maclean
Releases by Date
Premiere
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UK
Source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1950304/releaseinfo?ref_=tt_dt_rdat
Theatrical
18 Apr 2012
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USA
Releases by Country
UK
16 Nov 2011
- Premiere Source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1950304/releaseinfo?ref_=tt_dt_rdat
USA
18 Apr 2012
- Theatrical Source: https://ew.com/article/2012/04/13/tribeca-film-festival-michael-fassbender/
Popular reviews
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“Got A Light?”
In this 13 minute short directed by John Maclean, Michael and Liam are two professional thieves who are receiving instructions for their next heist. Their mission is to open a safe from an office that has a light activated alarm system so in order to do so they blindfold themselves so they can learn how to work in the dark. The short basically follows these two men who have just met and are waiting at a local pub for the green light to begin the heist.
This short caught my attention because it starred Michael Fassbender, one of my favorite actors working today. I had heard he was going to star in a Western action thriller alongside…
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getting high and drinking pints on a sunday morning with liam cunnigham sounds like so much fun
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This was really cool. Thought it was just going to be a about a heist but it was something different. Fassbender was great and Lim Cummings was god too. Big up Nels dad.
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There is just this thing that Michael Fassbender does that is just extraordinary...I don't know what it's called...oh right, exist
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Simple but very effective black & white short from director John Maclean (Slow West).
Two criminals are being briefed on their next job, which is a fairly simple bank heist with only one complication - there is a light sensitive alarm system meaning the job will have to be done in complete darkness.
Personally, I would have liked to have spent a lot longer than 13 minutes with Michael Fassbinder and Liam Cunningham in the pub and doing the heist while pissed and high.Winner of the BAFTA for Best Short Film 2012.
Watched on YouTube. -
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In a perfectly proportioned 13 minutes, filmmaker John Maclean delivers suspense, humor, moments of simple human connection, a memorable needle-drop, and a terrific payoff.
Shot by Robbie Ryan in 35mm b&w, the short reunited Michael Fassbender and Liam Cunningham just three years after their blistering centerpiece scene in Steve McQueen’s Hunger; their chemistry is dead-on.
It’s well worth your time and on YouTube.
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The idea of having to do a heist in complete darkness—though like, why not use night-vision-googles bro?—is such a neat idea that I’m almost a bit disappointed this is merely a short-film. That’s not to say Pitch Black Heist is bad due to its length; Michael Fassbender and Liam Cunningham delivers two solid performances with a charming chemistry and the grey cinematography is slick.
This has been on my watchlist since seeing Slow West six years ago, and John Maclean still hasn’t made a new film, a shame.
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michael fassbender is the world's only actor, everyone else is just playing dress-up
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Slow West is getting a lot of good buzz at the moment so I thought I'd see what else the director had done because I didn't recognise the name. It turns out this is his only previous film. It stars Michael Fassbender in particularly splendid form and also Liam Cunningham.
Filmed beautifully in black and white, and sometimes as the name would suggest, just black, it crams a lot of humour into its 13 minutes and is well worth your time.
Now I'm really looking forward to Slow West.If you're in the UK or Ireland it's available to watch for free on the Film4 website.