The Bank Job (2008)

Sexed up, but still boring

The Bank Job has more nudity and blatant semi-porn than any movie I've seen in a while. 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. 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. There is a haphazard quality to the film. 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.

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. 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. Deeper examination of her story would have provided a very interesting parallel to the main action.

This is a busting at the seams steam fest with crud loads of gratuitous sex, nudity, and titillation, but with very little real substance. If you want a cleaner alternative, check out Flawless. If you want a more traditional, more action packed heist movie, watch The Italian Job. If you want something in the middle, there is always The Thomas Crown Affair. November 25, 2008

Exceeds the formulaic take on the bank heist genre

I went into "The Bank Job" thinking it would be a rather formulaic cinematic take on the bank heist genre. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised. This is quite good stuff! I especially liked the 'Extras' on the DVD, which reinforced how much of the tale was snatched from a real-life event. Hats off to co-writers Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais for wrapping a taut thriller around that.

I was looking for a way to characterize my feeling about Jason Statham. Then, I read this pitch-perfect gem from reviewer Monkdude on these pages: "I'm not the biggest Jason Statham fan, mainly because he always looks and sounds the same in every role, but here he shows a little more range and is quite likeable."

Exactly! He'll always be Handsome Rob (The Italian Job (Special Collector's Edition)) in my book. Lucky for me, he continues to play slight variations on that role. Hey, why mess with success? The guy's carved out quite a good career, despite having started as a model. [Guy Ritchie put him Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels (Widescreen Edition) straight from a French Connection UK ad shoot.]

What struck me in the Extras is how Statham's managers picked and shepherded this film as a project for him. [I think this was Steve Chasman discussing this point - he's a producer of the film.] I'm impressed. As I mentioned earlier, Statham's got a nice little career going. Good management has definitely played a part in that. Good show, Steve Chasman. November 24, 2008

The best caper film I've seen in years

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. November 16, 2008

4 1/2! Great movie

"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!
October 27, 2008

Best movie of 2008 (so far).

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. October 14, 2008

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