The Bank Job
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Movie Reviews of The Bank Job
Movie Review: The Bank Job: Don't Miss It
Summary: 5 Stars
What a great romp of a film! It's essentially a crime film but with a sly sense of humour at times and with various wonderful plot twists. It's also quite confronting at times. It's always entertaining.
The film claims to be based on a true story. The magnitude of the robbery on which it's based was greater than the Great Train Robbery. Details were never allowed to be fully released as the crime had security implications.
So, let me back up a bit. A group of small time criminals gets a tip off about a bank vault where the alarms have been temporarily tuned off. They intend to dig a tunnel from an adjacent building and steal the contents of the various safe deposit boxes. In spite of themselves, they succeed. The money and jewels are stolen in the heist but so too are compromising photographs of Princess Margaret and others of various cabinet ministers. Needless to say, the photos are more valuable to some people than the money.
Through a series of crosses and double crosses, the gang mainly but not totally succeeds. Along the way, the plot twists and turns and the viewer is always kept guessing. Jason Statham as the leader of the team is very convincing. His beautiful accomplice Saffron Burrows provides some sexual tension to the story. She is quite a revelation.
I recommend this film without question. The British are very good at producing a crime thriller. Hollywood could take a few lessons. Do yourself a favour, go and see this film.
Movie Review: The best caper film I've seen in years
Summary: 5 Stars
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.Movie Review: Edge of Your Seat Heist Thriller
Summary: 5 Stars
Based on the1970s true story about a group of amateur crooks who rob a British bank and get away with a little more than some cash and jewels. They think they have a once in a lifetime opportunity when they find out the bank's security system is temporarily out of service. What they don't know is that they're being used by government agents to retrieve some incriminating photos of a princess caught in the act of engaging in some undiscriminating sexual behavior. Before they know it, they are being hunted down by government agents, police and mobsters who were storing their own incriminating evidence in those very same safety deposit boxes.
"The Bank Job" is an edge of your seat heist movie. The fact that it is based on true events make this film all that much more interesting. Don't get the feeling that your getting an "Oceans" type heist movie. No high tech gadgetry or disguises here. It's shovels and jackhammers, a good ol' get your hands dirty robbery.
Jason Statham proves once and for all that he is capable of being a good actor. He nearly goes the entire movie without hitting somebody. Overall the entire cast was brilliant. "The Bank Job" has enough action, plot twists and suspense to keep you entertained throughout and will leave you feeling fully satisfied when the credits roll.
Movie Review: We're the Sweeney...You're Nicked!
Summary: 5 Stars
Actually this film does not involve the Sweeney Metropolitan Police Flying Squad) but it does have Jason Statham doing a really good impersonation of Grant Mitchell from Eastenders.
Personally I think this film is a complementary piece of work to a film of a few years ago, Scandal, as both movies give a very convincing portrayal of Britain in the 1960's and '70's. with the sleazy concoction of political power, the Establishment, the secret services and the filtering down through to the lowest criminal classes.
Purists amy argue that some of the scenes in the film are anarchronistic but one must accept that given the tremendous changes which have transformed London in the last fifty years, some artistic licence is inevitable.
The film reminds me in a sense of the Long Good Friday, a superb movie with Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren and a short appearance from a young Piers Brosnan in that the vital essence of Britain's capital. Also every aspect of this film is excellent, plot, screenplay, cinematography, acting, credibility everything. The language is a tad worse than in your average movie but it certainly seems appropriate.
I have no hestitation in recommending this film to a discerning adult audience.
Movie Review: Surprisingly exciting
Summary: 5 Stars
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. 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. He's moved beyond simply scowling and karate chopping people in the windpipe. His crew members are distinct and colorful, and they are extremely likeable despite their criminal acts.
This film isn't fancy. It's a sad story told simply and in straightforward fashion. It's not as polished as The Italian Job or as smarmy as Ocean's Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen. 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.