To what extent does Pitch Black Heist conform to the heist genre?

The main way in which Pitch Black Heist conforms to the heist genre is the way in which the scenes and story follow the same connotations as you would expect within a heist film. For example, the first scene in Pitch Black Heist shows the men who will be carrying out the heist meeting each other for the first time. The men all introduce themselves and go over the plan for the heist. The film also conforms by showing a problem in the plan that the men have to adapt to in order to succeed; this problem is the fact that there are light-sensitive alarms inside the safe room so the men must practice walking through and memorising the room layout so they can get to the safe and open it without setting off the alarms. The plan also goes wrong later on when the men are sitting in the pub and the call they are waiting for doesn’t come until much later. In this time, both men decide to drink and then both get drunk so by the time they finally get the call, they are walking down the street shouting and drawing attention to themselves which could end up in them being caught.

 

However, the film also subverts the expectations of the genre by showing the big twist at the end of the film to be that both of the men are related with them being father and son. This goes against the connotations of a heist film by showing aspects of a family drama. The film also subverts the expectations by the heist failing and the man walking away with no money, the film instead presents the reward as the satisfaction the man receives by getting revenge on his father for when he abandoned him as a child. Another aspect of family drama shown in the film is just before the men gets the call that the heist is on, they are arm wrestling each other. This arm wrestle portrays the conflict between father and son and how the son has become stronger than his father however the audience won’t realise this until the big twist at the end. 

 

In conclusion, Pitch Black Heist somewhat conforms to the connotations of the heist genre by following the same story that you would expect to see such as the men meeting each other, the heist being organised and something going wrong partway through. Pitch Black Heist also however subverts the connotations of the heist genre by showing the big twist at the end to be that the men are father and son and that the son sabotages his father, to walk away with no money but the satisfaction in knowing that he got his revenge.