After bouncing around several genres and star vehicles with Noah and mother!, Darren Aronofsky returned to his grounded roots with The Whale. While critics and viewers alike loved Brendan Fraser’s performance in The Whale, the film waded in misery for too long for too many. Fraser took home an Oscar for his effort, but The Whale hasn’t lingered like perhaps the director wanted. This time out, Aronofsky looks like he’s having fun. Along for the ride is Austin Butler, who changed a lot of minds in his post-Elvis run, playing Feyd-Rautha, a motorcycle outlaw, and a doomsday cult podcaster in short succession. Not exactly the parts you see from an actor coasting on his success in a biopic.

Aronofsky sets Caught Stealing in the exciting though unpredictable New York City of the 1990s. The underground scene is alive and well, and smart devices haven’t yet turned people into mannequins only interested in likes. The atmosphere is combustible. Anything can and will happen to its inhabitants. The attention to detail is superb, from the Garbage needle drop to the wardrobe and brick-like cell phones. Too many recent period pieces rely on greenscreen to recreate a specific time. Aronofsky and his crew, Mark Friedberg and Amy Westcott, lean into physical details to get the nitty gritty of NYC right.

A free-wheeling caper set in New York is inevitably going to invite comparisons to After Hours. The mere presence of Griffin Dunne makes it doubly so. But Caught Stealing survives that association with the Scorsese classic by being an entertaining roller coaster ride. I don’t know if Caught Stealing signals a larger shift in Aronofsky’s career or if it’s a fun one-off, but this trend is interesting.

Hank (Butler) used to play baseball. Now he tends bar. It’s not an issue of aging out of the sport; Hank flamed out spectacularly. A drunk driving accident destroyed his knee, taking him out of the game. Born in California, Hank sticks out on the Lower East Side. In a city where no one knows your name, Hank goes out of his way to chat up the homeless man who sleeps near the apartment’s entrance. The lure of self-destruction is ever-present for Hank. As a promising athlete, when you don’t meet your potential, it follows you forever. Nobody remembers a 7th round draft pick, but everyone remembers a #1 overall pick who never made it to the majors.

Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz) enjoys the physical aspects of her relationship with Hank, but is it going anywhere beyond that? “I thrive on your bad judgment,” Hank pleads with Yvonne with an impish grin. But he knows he can’t keep drinking his sorrows away. That’s not sustainable; he needs to show her he’s capable of growth. Hank agrees to watch his neighbour’s cat to display newfound responsibility. Russ (Matt Smith) is a hard dude to miss with his gigantic mohawk. He doesn’t get along with most people, but Hank bonds with Russ’s cat, Bud, almost immediately. The favour curdles quickly thereafter. Within a day of watching the cat, Russian gangsters knock on Russ’s door and deliver a beating. More interruptions with different criminals of various persuasions follow. All of them end with Hank bloody and aggrieved. Hospitalized and missing a kidney, Hank finally decides to get in the game.

Hank will be known throughout Queens to Brooklyn by the end of his odyssey.

A detective (Regina King) warns Hank about who he’s dealing with, but he’d rather find his own way out of this mess—no police. Despite the knee injury, Hank still has natural athleticism. Hank is no John Wick, and I applaud Aronofsky for making Hank a relatable protagonist in harm’s way without making him a killing machine. Killing everyone within sight is fine for the heightened reality of John Wick, but it makes for a real short story with a former baseball flameout. Requiem for a Dream watchers will assume the worst of this thriller, although there is more levity than in Aronofsky’s 2000 masterwork. One encounter features Hank sitting between Orthodox gangsters, Lipa (Liev Schreiber) and Shmully (Vincent D’Onofrio), eating Bubbe’s (Carol Kane) matzo ball soup.

If Butler hasn’t convinced you of his burgeoning star status, Caught Stealing will do the trick. He has the swagger and a draw to the camera that only stars possess. That Matthew Libatique (Black Swan, Maestro) does the lensing doesn’t hurt either. Elvis gave Butler the spotlight to be a lead, but carrying a smaller indie during summer movie season proves he can do it. The role of Hank Thompson offers Butler the chance to be a self-assured man and a panicky mess, depending on the situation, yet believable as both. It’s a movie star part and a huge reason to recommend the film. A powerhouse ensemble with Bad Bunny, Smith, Schreiber, D’Onofrio, King, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, and Griffin Dunne is just the cherry on top.

Caught Stealing hits theatres on August 29.