‘Caught Stealing’ Review: Austin Butler Stars in Darren Aronofsky’s Glossy Good Time of a Crime Caper

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Aug 26

Written By Jonathan P. Moustakas

Russ (Matt Smith, left) and Hank (Austin Butler, right) find the storage unit in **Columbia Pictures CAUGHT STEALING. photo by: Niko Tavernise**

Austin Butler electrifies as an unlikely antihero in Darren Aronofsky’s sharp, stylish, and blood-soaked New York crime story that sparkles with pulpy energy and star power.

Darren Aronofsky has never been one to play it safe, but with Caught Stealing he takes an unexpected left turn: a glossy, propulsive crime caper that swaps his signature psychological despair for grit, swagger, and wild entertainment. The result is his most overtly commercial film yet — and a damn good time at the movies.

At the center of it all is Austin Butler, whose undeniable screen magnetism anchors a story that ricochets between violent chaos, dark humor, and high-octane thrills. Butler plays Hank Thompson, a former high-school baseball prodigy sidelined by injury and reduced to pouring drinks at a dive bar on New York’s Lower East Side in 1998. From the subway titles in the opening credits to the graffiti and garbage on the streets, Aronofsky and longtime cinematographer Matthew Libatique conjure a city on the cusp of gentrification, still pulsing with danger and possibility.

The trouble kicks off when Hank agrees to cat-sit for his neighbor Russ (Matt Smith, in anarchic punk mode). Within hours, Hank is jumped by Russian mobsters searching for drug money he knows nothing about, plunging him into a nightmare of beatings, shootouts, and betrayals. With his wide-eyed innocence colliding against sheer survival instincts, Butler is pitch-perfect as a reluctant everyman forced to improvise his way out of increasingly absurd situations.

Zoë Kravitz plays Yvonne, Hank’s girlfriend, whose paramedic skills prove useful even if the script sidelines her after a fiery introduction. More present is the film’s cavalcade of colorful supporting players: Regina King as a sharp-eyed detective, Benito Martínez Ocasio (Bad Bunny) as a sharply dressed Russian boss, Griffin Dunne as a biker-styled bar owner, and Carol Kane as the deadpan Bubbe to two Hasidic gangster brothers — played with lethal comic bite by Liev Schreiber and Vincent D’Onofrio. “I’m in enough trouble with Hashem without driving on Shabbos,” D’Onofrio quips, landing one of the film’s most memorable lines.

Charlie Huston, adapting his own novel, lets the narrative sprawl with shaggy-dog detours that somehow always lead back to Hank’s frantic bid for survival. The structure keeps audiences on edge — you never quite know who will turn up next, or who will make it out alive. Aronofsky’s direction leans into that unpredictability, staging set pieces with slick precision and violent punchlines, yet infusing them with a buoyancy rarely seen in his work.

For all the bloodshed — and there’s plenty — Caught Stealing has a surprising levity. Aronofsky laces the carnage with an almost cartoonish energy, the editing snapping from chase to shootout with comic timing. Libatique’s camera makes even dingy hallways gleam, and the vibrant color palette gives New York a strange allure, transforming the grime into something cinematic and seductive.

Still, there are flashes of Aronofsky’s trademark darkness. Hank’s recurring nightmares about the accident that ended his baseball dreams add psychological weight to the spectacle, and Butler excels in those close-up moments of pain and regret. But the film never wallows. Instead, it embraces contradiction: part action thriller, part black comedy, part crime pulp, all held together by Butler’s performance and Aronofsky’s restless energy.

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The result is a weird, wonderful anomaly — a crime movie that feels both familiar and totally off-kilter. Caught Stealing may not carry the psychological heft of Black Swan or Requiem for a Dream, but it proves that Aronofsky can pivot to pure genre filmmaking without losing his edge. By the time Butler scrambles under a street vendor’s cart like he’s sliding into home plate, it’s clear Aronofsky has delivered a pulpy, violent, and wildly entertaining ride.

Caught Stealing sparkles precisely because it doesn’t fit neatly into Aronofsky’s filmography. It’s the dark soap bubble of his career — bloody, stylish, and buoyant all at once. And thanks to Butler’s undeniable star turn, it’s bound to be one of the year’s most talked-about releases.

Rating: ★★★★☆

That’s a Wrap

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Caught Stealing

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That’s a Wrap | Caught Stealing |

“Austin Butler turns survival into spectacle in Aronofsky’s Caught Stealing — a violent, funny, and endlessly stylish crime caper that proves the director can have a glossy good time without losing his edge.”

— Jonathan P. Moustakas

Credits

release date: Friday, August 29, 2025 |

Cast: Austin Butler, Zoë Kravitz, Regina King, Matt Smith, Liev Schreiber, Vincent D’Onofrio, Benito Martínez Ocasio, Griffin Dunne, Carol Kane

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Screenplay: Charlie Huston, based on his novel

Distributor: Sony Pictures Entertainment

Runtime: 1h 47m

Rating: R