The Bank Job

Everybody enjoys a good heist flick, and this one is much better than most. Based on the true story of the 1971 robbery of a bank in London's Baker Street, it involves a group of small-time crooks who use ingenuity and imagination to make their big score by tunneling under the bank's vault. And this one turned out to be bigger even than the Great Train Robbery. Terry Leather, whose used car business is slightly bent, is recruited by a woman with whom he used to be involved -- who was strong-armed into it by MI-5, which actually wants to acquire the contents of one of the bank's safety deposit boxes, which includes some incriminating photos involving a Royal Person, which were taken by a Trinidadian hoodlum, whom the government is consequently powerless to arrest. Yes, stated like that, it's a somewhat complicated plot, but the characters explain everything very nicely along the way. Not all the characters survive the robbery's aftermath, but those who do pretty much get away with it -- and are mostly sympathetic, at that. One thing that makes this yarn especially enjoyable, at least to me, is that there are no big-name stars. In fact, Peter Bowles (whom I remember from _To the Manor Born,_ 25 years ago) is the only one I had even heard of. This means the actors are defined entirely by their roles here, and the result is almost like a documentary. The result is much preferable to the _Ocean's Eleven_ remake.

"The Bank Job", directed by Roger Donaldson

London, 1971; Terry Leather (Jason Statham) is a small time crook running a car lot and struggling to keep up with payments owed to a local loan shark. Terry needs something to push him over the thresh hold so he can secure the financial future of his wife and kids. Apparently timing is everything as an old acquaintance of his, Martine Love (Saffron Burrows) approaches him with an offer. It turns out that she has somehow managed to get some inside information on a bank. The alarm has been on the fritz and will be deactivated over a weekend allowing them the ability to enter a vault full of safe deposit boxes the contents of which will not likely be reported by the owners. Unbeknownst to Terry, the British government has a vested interest in the contents of one of the boxes which they can't access themselves as do some of the more powerful criminal elements of London. Terry quickly finds out that robbing the bank is only the beginning as the contents owners are not as quick to let go of their belongings as was originally thought...

"The Bank Job" was a pleasant surprise and a smart move for lead character Jason Statham. He breaks his Kung-Fu, Transporter type cast with this role although he is reprising his "Transporter" role. "The Bank job" is loosely based on an actual bank robbery that took place in London but much of the story presented in the movie is conjecture and artful speculation as is stated in the special features and likely common knowledge for any who were around for the event or have studied it at all. This doesn't make the movie any less interesting or entertaining however and the viewer is given a reasonably complex plot that involves many local gangsters, crooked cops, political figures and a crooked social activists of the era.

The Good: The story was great and involves many people in a connect the dots of crooks, cops and politicians type of story with solid plot twists and turns. The cast all around gave great performances. As far as cinematography the movie looked great and sounded great as well.

The Bad: nothing memorable

Overall: One of the better movies I have seen this year. If you haven't viewed this pick up a copy today!

For an hour and fifty minutes, this movie manages to achieve something no Hollywood product has done all year: sustain a non-stop level of excitement and interest. Very seldom do I purchase a DVD just on the basis of the Amazon.com reviews and recomendations and I'm glad because up to this point of the year (October 13th.), it's the best film I've seen all year. There were even a couple of jokes that I saw a long time coming but made me burst out laughing anyway. That's the kind of movie this is.

A well paced flick with plenty of tense moments and a preponderance of twists, The Bank Job makes for a decent movie experience.

However, the pacing and twisting can't conceal that the film suffers from a lack of focus, both in narrative and theme. I felt Bank Job couldn't decide whether to be a light-hearted caper like 'Snatch' or a gritty crime drama like 'The Departed'. It attempts to be both and fails to be truly excellent at either.

The cast of characters grows quite quickly, and we don't have enough time to care about all of them as much as the film needs us to. The central love affair is also lacking. There are many such loose threads in Bank Job which show promise but are watered down and create nothing more than disorder.

A promising film that entertains but is ultimately forgettable. The special edition has some deleted scenes as extras, but they don't flesh out the movie. Standard DVD includes wide and full screen formats.

Not the usual caper movie. And that's good. Truth is stranger than fiction. The entertainment comes as the dumb threaten the arrogant. The evil punish the careless. And the quick outwit the establishment. A marriage survives. And the details are still out there.