A headstrong and impulsive youth steals £230 million of mob funds and stays one step ahead of the top mob enforcer until he decides to donate it to a charitable cause.

Thanks. Appreciate your thoughts on this. The decision to donate the money happens at the top of the final act. This obviously is irreversible and will lead to very heavy consequences. So, he is sacrificing himself at the altar of a good cause, which is noble. And, the enforcer also displays noble qualities, so he is not a stereotypical bad guy.

Also, the question of clean Vs dirty money is discussed. The enforcer himself believes that ‘no money is dirty, only people’. Also, stealing what is already stolen creates a situation of moral relativity.

I think I should change ‘steals’ to ‘stumbles across’ because it’s not a heist but a crime of opportunity. The character arc would be from opportunistic to self-sacrificing since it’s clear the mob will treat him extremely harshly when they finally do lay hands on him and find out their money is gone.

His motivation is what changes and not his character. I like to think character is hardwired anyway. I mean, alcoholics never lose the urge to drink, they learn to sublimate or positively channel the urge.

Also, the shift in motivation happens in stages, giving all the money to charity is not predictable, but it does make sense, especially because he is impulsive. His motivation to give all the money away is this: innocent people he cares about have died and he feels the need to somehow redeem himself, he also knows that the mob will never stop hunting him and he will suffer terribly when they finally catch him. So, on impulse, he decides to make the best of an extremely bad situation.