The Bank Job
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Movie Reviews of The Bank Job
Movie Review: oh, them crazy royals...
Summary: 4 Stars
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! THE BANK JOB serves up grand larceny and its nasty aftermath. The film re-enacts the daring "true-to-life" robbery which went down in 1971, on Baker Street, East London. 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. But it's cool, because now the whole dirty laundry can be aired out, merely by watching this movie. Because movies absolutely never lie.
What's in Safety Deposit Box #118? Why, the McGuffin, of course, in the form of explicit photos featuring a British royal princess caught engaged in the naughty. 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. 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. 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). 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? How about getting some villains to rob the bank, specifically the vault which holds the safety deposit boxes? Of course, the villains must never, never know about Box #118.
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. So he gets a visit from a duo of shakedown bullies. 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. Martine has a proposition for him and his shifty mates. And, yes, it concerns a bank job. So off they go, with the recruiting, and the scheming, and the execution of the thing, and the funny bits with the walkie-talkies. But Terry's a clever sort. He soon sniffs out that there's much more going on than a simple robbery. But when he and his chums realize how deep they're in it, well, after all, they're only small-time hoods... What chance have they got, going up against vicious thugs, crooked cops, and implacable government spooks? Oh, and a smut king?
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. Even the film title doesn't put on airs, getting right to the crux as it does. It's easy to root for these guys. 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. 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. I like that Terry Leather isn't a mastermind, who's got every angle covered. When the crapcake comes down, he fails to save everyone. Terry has native street smarts, and this helps him out of several jams. But he also becomes the beneficiary of great good luck and outside circumstances.
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. Taut, gritty storytelling presents us with several close scrapes and also moments which don't at all go our villains' way. The tension is ratcheted up in the second half of the movie, as we begin to see the brutal fallout of the heist. 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. Here, the stakes feel more real, because the people feel more real. 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. I guess, now and then, even the high muck-a-mucks deserve to engage in a bit of chickee-wang-wang... but, tsk tsk, those crazy royals...
Movie Review: "What a Tangled Web We Weave, When We First Practice to Deceive"
Summary: 4 Stars
"Truth is stranger than fiction." This saying is given believable weight in `The Bank Job' Sort of the British equivalent of `Serpico (Widescreen Edition)' (with the notable exception of any honest true-life players) the film centers on the life of debt-ridden car salesman, Terry Leathers (Jason Statham), a man driven to settle his debts with a brilliant bank robbery scheme that's so riddled with twists of good and ill luck, he could have made odds' makers throw in their chips.
Back in the day, 1971, debt handlers were not a pretty sight in the U.K. Today some people get insistent or harassing calls for delinquency, but no one comes to smash our display car models to extort a debt. So starts the justifying context of Terry, who makes contact with Martine Love (Saffron Burrows), a woman who'd like to erase her own debt to society by obtaining some incriminating photos found in a safety deposit box at a branch of Lloyd's Bank.
It starts smart enough. They choose nearby Chicken Inn as posturing new owners, pretending to remodel for a new business. If that seems water tight, then tension comes quickly when a constable raps on their door to politely announce their neighbors are complaining about the jackhammer racket of their renovation. Clever also turns to chaos once again when a roof observer radios his reports below, an radio operator quickly gets wise to them, records their proceedings, and contacts the police. Doomed? Not yet, there's more.
In the interweaving drama, there are conflicting parties with at least as much at stake. One of the deposit boxes has scandalous photos of Princess Margaret and Tripoli's elusive London radical, Michael X. In another safety deposit box is a set of photos linking an escort to a high political official who has a taste for kinky behavior. If that weren't enough, at Berns' steamy brothel and adult nightclub, police regularly take bribes to keep the place operational, and the owner is astute enough to write down every payout on a bookkeeping ledger. Where does he keep it? In one of the safety deposit boxes, of course.
I won't let on if crime indeed pays, but I will indicate some of the price. Kidnapping one of the key robbers, the debt sharks keep up their heinous extortion. While negotiating for their release, Terry must also work with officials and police, each needing their own goods. The government wants to keep high officials and Princess Margaret from scandal, and the police want to recapture the ledger implicating them to illegal graft. Murder and counter negotiations take place in spades. How and to whom? Wild horses couldn't drag it out of me.
Will Terry and his cohorts escape with their lives and their visas? Who comes out on top and who on the bottom? Will there be leaks of the bank robber "tapes" to the press? Will Terry be able to keep his family together and save his marriage? Tune in to the movie and find out for yourself. There's much more to be revealed. How true is it? I don't know for certain, but you get those written narratives provided at the end, filling us in on what happened to the key people and organizations the movie documents, so it must be close. Significantly, during the credits, it reads, "The names have been changed to protect the guilty." Incriminating evidence for a true tale told well.
The timing, the portrayals, and the material make for a solid and pleasurable viewing experience. (Written [Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais) and directed (Roger Donaldson) with equal finesse.)
A JP's Pick 4 *'s = Very Good
Movie Review: STATHAM SCORES A BANK JOB
Summary: 4 Stars
Jason Statham has become an action anti-hero icon. Beginning his film career with LOCK STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS, Statham continued on to film the TRANSPORTER films, CRANK and last year's WAR. The time has come for him to venture out of his pure action grind and head into the world of drama. He does so with the release this week of THE BANK JOB.
THE BANK JOB is the true story of a group of low level criminals in 1971 London who are recruited to rob a bank's safe deposit boxes. Without being aware, the group is hired to do so by the British Secret Service.
The Service' real reason for the heist is for these thieves to get a set of pictures showing Princess Margaret in an uncompromising position. Those photos belong to a black militant named Michael X (Peter De Jersey) and are his get out of jail free card when it comes to his trial. The pictures were stored there on the advice of London pornographer Lew Vogel. Unbeknownst to the Service, Vogel has his own valuable stored in the vault as well, a ledger that shows all of the payoffs to corrupt police in town.
An ex-model named Martine Love (Saffron Burrows), caught smuggling drugs, is recruited by the Service to pull off the heist in turn for her freedom. and in turn for her freedom. Martine starts the ball rolling and the criminals she chooses are an odd mixture of friends led by Terry Leather (Statham), a crook trying to go straight with a car dealership but at the same time in debt to the wrong people. The score will net him enough money to pay them off and be free.
The first part of the film details the group planning the robbery. It moves forward giving background on a multitude of players who all have something to hide and the evidence of it stored in the vault. From there we are transported to the actual heist which involves tunneling into the vault via an abandoned store two doors down.
As they tunnel their way in, they use a lookout to make sure no police arrive to check things out. But this lookout and his walkie talkie are picked up by a ham radio operator who gets the police involved. The only problem is which bank is it being looted?
The heist goes off without an arrest and the crooks head out to split the spoils of their deed. At the same time, a number of government officials (pictures of each at a local brothel part of the stolen property) get in on the case, the Service wants the pictures they started this whole thing for and Vogel wants his log book.
Can Terry and the gang get away with this robbery, the biggest since the great train robbery with an estimated $3 million stolen? Or will they find themselves squeezed between the real crooks, the Secret Service and the corrupt police? You'll have to watch to find out.
The entire cast does a fantastic job of not only settling into the skin of their characters but of playing the time period to perfection as well. Statham finally gets to show he has some acting chops which hopefully will lead to more roles like this one.
Director Roger Donaldson (DANTES PEAK, COCKTAIL, NO WAY OUT) does the story justice as well, bringing it to life on the screen. In his hands what could have been a boring caper film is instead filled with rich characters and situations that leave your palms damp with anticipation and a caring for the people involved. Sure they're thieves but you hope they get away with it.
Plenty of stories to go round, plenty of threads that are all tied up by films end and plenty of action for those who expect it. But in the end this movie gives more than mere action. It gives a true story a touch of heart.
Movie Review: Good Caper Film
Summary: 4 Stars
Jason Statham has been in my DVD player a lot recently. I watched Chaos & Revolver recently. As Terry Leather, Statham actually touched me as he seemed to care about his wife Wendy and their family. Yes, he's a bank robber; and of course robbing banks is bad, but he does it for the right reasons! Statham who won the "Most Offensive Male Character" award from the Women's Film Critics Circle at least plays a loving husband who is tempted by the luscious Saffron Burrows, but loves his wife. Keeley Hawes, who will be the next Lara Croft in the "Tomb Raider" series, does a nice job here as the mother who maybe finds it exciting to have a bank robber husband, as long as he doesn't get caught. New Zealand director Roger Donaldson who did "Dante's Peak" with Pierce Brosnan in 1997 does a good job focusing on a complex story, keeping the pacing and elements interesting. Saffron Burrows plays Martine Love who is blackmailed by customs authorities into getting a crew together to steal compromising photos of the Princess from a bank lock box. Burrows has been in "Troy" (2004), "Peter Pan" (2003) & "Frida" (2002). In addition to looking stunningly beautiful, she holds up her acting chops as she slyly tries to slip the photos into her bag before the eagle-eyed Terry Leather. Stephen Campbell Moore who had a small role as James Stephan in Amazing Grace (2006) plays Kevin, one of the crooks with a brain who manages not to get killed. Daniel Mays who played Tommy Nettle in Atonement (Widescreen Edition) & Sid in Vera Drake does a good job as the dimwitted Dave Shilling whose private parts are bigger than his brain. James Faulkner who was in two "Bridget Jones" films plays the polished con man Guy Singer, who winds up with a terminal backache. Richard Lintern who played another bureaucrat in "Syriana" plays Tim Everett who concocts this illegal scheme to regain the photos compromising to the Crown. Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais produced a strong caper screenplay after having penned Across the Universe (Two-Disc Special Edition) & Archangel with Daniel Craig. This is a good caper film, worthy of an evening's viewing! Enjoy!Movie Review: solidly crafted crime drama
Summary: 4 Stars
Terry Leather is a shady car dealer in East London who finds himself in hock to a local gangster who`s putting the screws on everyone who owes him money. Desperate for some quick cash, Terry allows a former friend and model to trick him into helping pull off a major bank heist, unaware that he and his buddies are actually being used by the British authorities to steal some scandalous photos that, if published, could seriously embarrass the royal family. The potential blackmailer is a black radical who models himself on Malcolm X and who thinks he holds the upper hand with the authorities as long as he is in possession of the pictures, which he has put in a safety deposit box in Lloyds Bank. Terry and his crew, unaware of the back story and convinced there is a fortune to be had for the taking, fall right into the authorities' trap, bearing all the risk should the scheme somehow fail, yet sharing in few of the rewards should it come off as planned.
Based on an actual event that took place in 1971, "The Bank Job" is a solid, old-fashioned heist drama directed by Roger Donaldson with a super-abundance of suspense, energy and style. There are twists and double crosses aplenty in the screenplay by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, which uses the bank robbery as a mere jumping-off point for a scathing survey of the London crime scene, ranging from the lowest levels of two-bit thievery to the upper reaches of police and governmental corruption. There's also just enough uniqueness in the setup to keep us from feeling we know where the story is heading while it`s still playing itself out. Despite a rather large cast of characters, we're usually able to keep most of the people straight during the course of the drama, though there are a few moments in the back half of the film where a little more clarity might have been helpful.
In a bit of a change-of-pace for himself as an actor, Jason Statham gets to shed his "Transporter" action-hero image in favor of a more recognizable working-class stiff and family man who happens to have a serious penchant for running afoul of the law. Also compelling is Saffron Burrows - a dead-ringer for a young Charlotte Rampling - who stars as the seductive go-between who lures Terry and his men into a plan that may well lead to their undoing.
The Great Bank Robbery of 1971 had the dual effect of not only turning villains into heroes but of helping to purge much of the corruption and rot lurking in the top echelons of British society. It's a fascinating piece of twentieth century history brought to vivid and memorable life in a gripping and stylish film.