In Theaters

HEIST, written and directed by David Mamet. 107 minutes. Rated R.

The setup for David Mamet’s “Heist” is almost identical to Frank Oz’s “The Score,” the summer caper that starred Robert De Niro as an aging thief pushing for retirement, Marlon Brando as the fence pushing him into “one last job,” and Edward Norton as the rookie who’s more trouble than he’s worth.

In Mamet’s film, Gene Hackman is the thief, Danny DeVito is the fence and Sam Rockwell is the newcomer stirring things up. The similarities are clear, but the telling couldn’t be more different.

Whereas “The Score” felt burdened by the anatomy of its crimes, “Heist” is liberated by them. The film is just the sort of fare audiences have come to expect from Mamet (“House of Games,” “The Spanish Prisoner”), an ingeniously crafted thriller that works by evasion, thus keeping audiences in the dark.

In the film, Hackman is Joe Moore, an unflappable criminal so seasoned and cool, it’s rumored that when sheep go to sleep, they count him.

It’s easy to believe. At 70, Hackman has earned his poker face. But when his character blows it while pulling a daring robbery at a posh jewelry store – his face is caught on camera – Joe’s icy veneer cracks and he begins to consider retirement with his wife, Fran (Rebecca Pidgeon, Mamet’s real-life wife), a smooth piece of work who “could talk her way out of a sunburn.”

Unfortunately for Joe, retirement isn’t that simple. Without giving too much away, the film positions him against Bergman (DeVito), a sleazy little fence who refuses to pay Joe a dime for the jewelry heist unless he agrees to pull off a gig mysteriously referred to as “the Swiss thing.”

Reluctantly, Joe agrees, but complicating matters for him is Bergman’s nephew, Jimmy Silk (Rockwell), an arrogant creep who flirts with Fran while allegedly keeping an eye on Joe, and Joe’s two associates, Bobby and Pinky (Delroy Lindo and Ricky Jay), who are supposed to be Joe’s loyal friends – but with so much money suddenly at stake, are they really so loyal or friendly?

Filled with Mamet’s rich, unsparing dialogue and a performance from Hackman that’s among his best, “Heist” is packed with so many twists and turns, red herrings and double-dealings, it does just what it’s supposed to do – hold audiences captive until its surprising end.

Grade: B+

On Video and DVD

PLANET OF THE APES, directed by Tim Burton. Written by William Broyles Jr., Lawrence Konner and Mark D. Rosenthal. 125 minutes. Rated PG-13.

“Planet of the Apes” is the first Tim Burton movie since 1985’s “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure” that doesn’t look or feel like a Tim Burton movie. It could have been directed by anyone – and that, right there, is one of the main reasons it disappoints.

But not the only reason. There’s also the small matter of the script, which is sometimes so clunky, one wonders if its writers have opposable thumbs.

Loosely based on Pierre Boulle’s novel and, more famously, on Franklin Schaffner’s 1968 pulp film, Burton’s “Apes” is a big movie, for sure, but one that struggles to contain its ideas and themes. It mirrors the original in that it tries to offer a dark social commentary on the state of race relations, but the film’s focus is so broad, that comment, however relevant, is lost amid the confusion.

In the film, it’s the year 2029 and American astronaut Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg), is fighting for his life after his ship slams into a planet ruled by human-hating apes.

With the help of Ari (Helena Bonham Carter), a liberal ape who has a crush on Leo that borders on bestiality, Leo rises up against the evil Gen. Thade (Tim Roth) and his snarling band of henchapes in an attempt to get off the planet and back to Earth.

As the war between the humans and the apes escalates into a showdown that can only be described as “Braveheart” meets “Mad Max” on all fours, Burton and his screenwriters toss in a wealth of other pop culture references, including nods to “The Fly,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “The Wizard of Oz” and, most notably, to Schaffner’s opus and the four sequels and two television series it spawned.

As different as Burton and Schaffner’s films are – Burton himself calls his movie a “re-imagining” of the original – there’s still too much monkey see, monkey do going on here to suit. It’s as if Burton himself can’t escape from “The Planet of the Apes.”

Some will argue that the fun Burton pokes at the first film is what makes this film so entertaining -and they’d be right. But it’s also what keeps the director from creating his own vision – and thus delivering a film that’s distinctly his own.

Grade: C-

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, Tuesdays on “NEWS CENTER at 5” and Thursdays on “NEWS CENTER at 5:30” on WLBZ-2 and WCSH-6. He can be reached a: BDNFilm1@aol.com.

THE VIDEO/DVD CORNER

Renting a video or a DVD? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores.

Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch

Stole Christmas ? D+

Planet of the Apes ? C-

America’s Sweethearts ? D+

crazy/beautiful ? B

Osmosis Jones ? C-

Tomb Raider ? D+

Doctor Zhivago

(DVD debut) ? A-

The Golden Bowl ? C+

Legally Blonde ? B+

Shrek ? A-

Aimee & Jaguar ? A

The Animal ? B

Swordfish ? C

With a Friend Like Harry ? A-

Dr. Dolittle 2 ? C-

Dumbo (DVD debut) ? A

Final Fantasy:

The Spirits Within ? C+

Freddy Got Fingered ? BOMB

Monty Python

and the Holy Grail ? B+

Angel Eyes ? C+

Cats & Dogs ? B+

Star Wars: The Phantom

Menace (DVD debut) ? B

Town & Country ? C+

Bridget Jones’s Diary ? A-