Sony PicturesAt first blush, Darren Aronofsky seems like the least-likely candidate for something like Caught Stealing. Sony’s new crime caper, adapted from Charlie Huston’s 2004 novel of the same name, was positioned as a spicy— if razor-edged — late-summer romp, leaning heavier on the central romance between its red-hot stars than on the dark action that threatens to tear them apart. It felt like the latest offering from Edgar Wright or Guy Ritchie, not the guy who gave us Black Swan and Requiem for a Dream. But Caught Stealing actually has a lot more than smoldering romance on its mind, and up its sleeve. Aronofsky wastes little time reminding us that he is, in fact, the guy who’s delivered some of the most gonzo thrillers this side of the millennium. After two claustrophobic crash-out films in Mother! and The Whale, the director is back to his old stomping grounds, and all the better for it. Caught Stealing is the breath of fresh air Aronofsky’s needed: it’s just as chaotic and cruel as his past efforts, sometimes to its detriment, but it keeps its foot on the gas with enough determination to distract and, eventually, delight. Spoilers ahead.Caught Stealing has a lot going for it, looks-wise: its grungy late ‘90s setting is lush, lived-in, and fully realized, dragging us knee-deep into a lost world. It’s 1998 on New York’s Lower East Side, and Aronofsky manages to resurrect the city so fully you can almost feel its grit under your nails. He’s also tapped the perfect leading man for good measure, with Austin Butler — an actor whose long proven his chops for dramatic fare — sliding effortlessly into the role of lost loner Hank. A former baseball prodigy whose dreams of going pro were dashed in a devastating car accident, Hank has since distilled his trauma into a casual alcohol addiction. He masks his resentment over the loss of his future — and of his best friend (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai), who perished in the crash — pretty well, starting with his gig slinging drinks in a seedy bar just steps from his own home. But his apartment itself tells a very different story. Every available surface is crammed with enough spirits to give his girlfriend, Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz), serious pause about going steady. Then there are the nightmares, which reveal Hank’s trauma with the patient intensity of a chisel chipping down a stone.Whatever skeletons lurk in Hank’s closet, Yvonne still finds herself wanting to take things to the next level — and the feeling is mutual for our hero. He agrees to pet-sit for his next-door neighbor, Russ (a swaggering, mohawked Matt Smith), just because she likes his cat Buddy, though he’ll come to regret that good deed before long. With bleak twists and brutal action, Aronofsky proves he hasn’t lost his bite. | Sony PicturesPunk rocker Russ is hightailing it home to England to check in on his sick father, but his swift departure triggers a visit from two menacing Eastern European gangsters (Yuri Kolokolnikov and Nikita Kukushkin). They turn up at Hank’s doorstep asking after Russ, and when Hank refuses to give up his friend’s whereabouts, they answer with a brutal beating. Punches land with decisive, thundering cracks — some mirror the sound of a baseball bat hitting a home run, thanks to some clever sound design — and a spectacularly feral headbutt from one attacker eventually sends Hank to the hospital. When he wakes two days later, he’s lost one kidney and the luxury of alcohol... forever. His troubles don’t end there, either. Despite his condition, Hank’s suddenly on the run from New York’s most brutal bogeymen, from those aforementioned Russians to a Puerto Rican bar owner (Benito Ocasio Martinez, aka Bad Bunny) who lets his pistol talk for him. Hank relies, at turns, on Yvonne and Roman (Regina King), an ice-cold detective who warns him about other “scary monsters” waiting in the wings. Everyone wants a piece of something that Hank has absolutely zero access to: a treasure trove of cash guarded by Russ, which was meant to be distributed to leaders of the city’s criminal underbelly. In a perfect world, he’d just have to survive until Russ returns to the States — but Huston’s twisty tale, adapted for the screen by the author himself, throws one curveball after another, forcing Hank to go on the offense. Caught Stealing has a lot more than smoldering romance on its mind, but Butler and Kravitz are the heart of the film. | Sony PicturesWhile some of the film’s twists may be predictable, Aronofsky’s not pulling his punches. Caught Stealing is a crime caper with an inimitable, cruel streak, dragging its leading man from one harrowing encounter to the next without any regard for tonal whiplash. As Hank runs for his life, hiding in grimy alleys and stalwart New York landmarks, Caught Stealing also treats us to a tour of a city as it once was. Admittedly, the film works best as a study of an ecosystem gone extinct: the script occasionally snipes at the gentrification that would later rob New York of all its bite, but it’s much better at showing, not telling. Hank’s rapport with his other next-door neighbor, a yuppie website designer who constantly complains about hallway noise, says more about the shifting tides than any lip service the characters give. The same could be said for any of the New Yorkers Hank encounters on his misadventure. The difference between friend and foe is determined practically by the flip of a coin, while the vast spectrum of players steer the film from over-the-top comedy to morbid, morose beatings. Smith keeps the film’s broadest swings in check with his straight-faced performance, while King offers a much-needed grounding force to the mayhem in the foreground. Liev Schreiber and Vincent D’Onofrio are also great late additions as Lipa and Schmully, two God-fearing Hassidic gangsters who effortlessly embody Caught Stealing’s subtle tonal shifts.Butler, meanwhile, is appropriately caught in the middle. After turns in Elvis and Dune: Part Two, his potential as a leading man should be undeniable. His Hank takes a beating, but he finds ways to roll with the punches, too. In one of Caught Stealing’s quieter moments, Aronofsky’s camera pushes in as he hits one fastball after the next in blistering succession. It’s an apt parallel for the film itself, as it lands most of its big swings — and a reminder not to count out the actor or his director.Caught Stealing hits theaters on August 29.