The Bank Job
Based on a true story of a heist gone wrong. Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 07/15/2008 Starring: Jason Statham Run time: 110 minutes Rating: R Director: Roger Donaldson
A cheerful, energetic, and completely entertaining movie, The Bank Job follows some small-time hoods who think they've lucked into a big-time opportunity when they learn a bank's security system will be temporarily suspended--little suspecting that they're being manipulated by government agents for their own ends. The result is that the movie doubles its pleasures: While the robbery itself has the usual suspense of a heist film, when the robbery is over the hoods find themselves being hunted by the police, the government, and brutal criminal kingpins who were storing dangerous information in a safety deposit box. The Bank Job won't win any awards, but it's enormously fun. Director Roger Donaldson (No Way Out, Species) propels the action along with vigor, editing zippily with perfect clarity among multiple storylines and various colorful characters. Jason Statham (Snatch, The Transporter), as the leader of the bank robbers, successfully steps away from his usual bone-crunching roles to a more human presence. The rest of the cast--including Saffron Burrows (Deep Blue Sea), Keeley Hawes (Tipping the Velvet), David Suchet (Poirot), and many faces familiar from British film and television--give their characters the right degree of personality and flavor without getting fussy or detracting from the headlong rush of the story. A little sex, a lot of action, a sly sense of humor, and a twisty plot; if more movies had these basic pleasures, the world would be a happier place. --Bret Fetzer
Stills from Bank Job (click for larger image)
The Bank Job Accessories
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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Single Disc)
The Forbidden Kingdom (Two-Disc Special Edition + Digital Copy)
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The Bank Job Reviews
Director Roger Donaldson, as in his "No Way Out," is a skillful storyteller who manages to keep you interested in the story full of tension and suspense as well as incredible coincidences and plot holes (What happened to negatives). Actually, Martine has her own motives for supporting him. He is also heavily in debt and needs money now. The heist film's story, reportedly based on the real crime "The Baker Street Robbery" that happened in London in 1971, is a bit too complicated with subplots about the royal family, corrupt cops, honest cops, a brothel and a political activist, but the fast-paced film is always light and captivating at the same time with the capable British cast. And try to spot Mick Jagger who briefly appears. "The Bank Job" changes its tone in the second half where things get more tense and violent even though direct descriptions of violence are avoided. That is when his former girlfriend Martine Love (Saffron Burrows) shows up before him, offering a lucrative "job" to him.
The plot is full of twists and turns and it keeps a good pace throughout the film's 110 minutes. Jason Statham is Terry Leather, happily married father of two daughters. Perhaps the film ends too neatly and some parts look implausible. "The Bank Job" may not be the greatest caper film ever made, but it is definitely a hugely entertaining onethat is, as long as you ignore plot holes and certain elements familiar in the gangster film genre. I don't know how much of the story is really "based on truth," but "The Bank Job" is still an interesting and enjoyable ride. Little did Terry and his team realize that the bank's vault actually keeps some secrets the robbers really don't want to know. The entire cast did a good job, especially David Suchet as a chilling crime lord.
The film re-enacts the daring "true-to-life" robbery which went down in 1971, on Baker Street, East London. But when he and his chums realize how deep they're in it, well, after all, they're only small-time hoods. I don't think I'll ever get tired of heist pictures, and if the heist picture also turns out to be a period piece, then my fan joy cup doth runneth over, brother. Part of the charm is that these small-time hoods are mostly regular blue-collar dudes, of similar stock that produced them blokes what done THE FULL MONTY. Back in the day, the Lloyds Bank heist made very big noise in British media, for a bit of time anyway, until the British authorities issued a D-Notice which effectively gagged the press. What chance have they got, going up against vicious thugs, crooked cops, and implacable government spooks.
When the crapcake comes down, he fails to save everyone. And these photos, locked away in Box #118 at Lloyds Bank, are presently owned by a civil rights activist, who's actually more notoriously identified as a "slum landlord, a drug dealer, and a vicious pimp," if I'm quoting the film correctly. but, tsk tsk, those crazy royals. I like that Terry Leather isn't a mastermind, who's got every angle covered. And, yes, it concerns a bank job. How about getting some villains to rob the bank, specifically the vault which holds the safety deposit boxes. On a less painful note, Terry also gets a visit from lovely Martine Love (Saffron Burrows), a femme fatale type who Terry has known for years. Taut, gritty storytelling presents us with several close scrapes and also moments which don't at all go our villains' way.
Jason Statham, the leader of the pack, has always had screen presence and again brings his steel-wool stubble, balding dome and rugged quality to the role. The tension is ratcheted up in the second half of the movie, as we begin to see the brutal fallout of the heist. Enter Terry Leather (Jason Statham), a modest car lot owner with mischief in his past and currently owing the local loanshark, except that he's late with the dues. I guess, now and then, even the high muck-a-mucks deserve to engage in a bit of chickee-wang-wang. Terry has native street smarts, and this helps him out of several jams. It's easy to root for these guys.
Why, the McGuffin, of course, in the form of explicit photos featuring a British royal princess caught engaged in the naughty. What's in Safety Deposit Box #118. Because movies absolutely never lie. So he gets a visit from a duo of shakedown bullies. Even the film title doesn't put on airs, getting right to the crux as it does. There's no doubting that THE BANK JOB, in a vicious-fist-to-the-gut sort of way, is more suspenseful than, say, those breezy Ocean capers. Now this isn't much of a spoiler as the film spells this out early on; that's what all those opening scenes of salacious frolic were all about.
Of course, the villains must never, never know about Box #118. Okay, so the dilemma for MI-5 (or MI-6, I don't think the film clarifies) is how to obtain these photos without causing a scandal. I don't think THE BANK JOB rates as an instant classic, but it's a very good movie, and one I'll most definitely catch up with again. But he also becomes the beneficiary of great good luck and outside circumstances. But it's cool, because now the whole dirty laundry can be aired out, merely by watching this movie.
I also quite like the film's closing caption: "The names of many of the people identified in this film have been changed to protect the guilty." I wonder what really went down that time at Lloyds Bank, back in 1971. Martine has a proposition for him and his shifty mates. He soon sniffs out that there's much more going on than a simple robbery.
But Terry's a clever sort. That, this time, he also has a wife and two kids whom he obviously adores grounds him as a character and makes you root for him all the more. So off they go, with the recruiting, and the scheming, and the execution of the thing, and the funny bits with the walkie-talkies.
Here, the stakes feel more real, because the people feel more real. THE BANK JOB serves up grand larceny and its nasty aftermath. British Intelligence is aware of what's in Box #118, and it prevents them from hauling this local kingpin to the gallows (or whatever it is they did to blackhearted miscreants back in the day).
Oh, and a smut king.
And the English accents drove me crazy. If you want a great movie, its not this one. Statham is always great, but this movie was slow and boring. Watch Street Kings. The only good part is that its a true story.
It's a no-frills tale that will leave you wondering at the lengths people will go to for wealth and to save their skin when they get in trouble.
He's moved beyond simply scowling and karate chopping people in the windpipe.
It's not as polished as The Italian Job or as smarmy as Ocean's Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen.
I didn't know anything about this film prior to seeing it other than that it was based on a true story about a group of English petty criminals who decide to tunnel beneath a bank in order to rob safe deposit boxes.
This film isn't fancy.
It's a sad story told simply and in straightforward fashion.
His crew members are distinct and colorful, and they are extremely likeable despite their criminal acts.
The heist is the idea of a woman played by Saffron Burrows, who has a specific and ulterior motive for wanting to rob a certain safe deposit box.
Jason Statham shows that he's grown as an actor in this one.
The Bank Job has more nudity and blatant semi-porn than any movie I've seen in a while. If you want something in the middle, there is always The Thomas Crown Affair. If you want a cleaner alternative, check out Flawless. This is a busting at the seams steam fest with crud loads of gratuitous sex, nudity, and titillation, but with very little real substance. Unless you're a thirteen year old male, or want to watch porn without the stigma of actually having to rent it, you might find this movie a bit boring. There is a haphazard quality to the film. Most importantly, one of the best plot elements is left relatively unexplored: the story of a female MI5 agent who has infiltrated a domestic terrorist organization. I'm all for period pieces that are free from cliched car chases, violent shoot-em ups, or two-dimensional characters, but sadly this movie lacks the former but without the compelling plot of a true drama.
At times I was expecting it to go the direction of Oceans 11 and be a 'lovable set of criminals' movie where each character contributes their set of skills to accomplish a goal; a sort of criminal 'magnificent seven.' The Bank Job starts down that path, but then abandons it in mid stream. If you want a more traditional, more action packed heist movie, watch The Italian Job. Aside from Jason Stratham's character, all of the criminal gang are faceless and pretty unremarkable in the end. There is little likability among them. Also, the stakes feel fairly low until near the end of the film, when they are jacked through the roof, contributing to the unbalanced quality of the narrative flow. Deeper examination of her story would have provided a very interesting parallel to the main action.
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