About the movie
The Bank Job
Rating: 
Cast:
Peter Bowles; Stephen Campbell Moore; Saffron Burrows; Jason Statham; Keeley Hawes; Peter De Jersey; Daniel Mays; Richard Lintern; James Faulkner; Colin Salmon
Directed by:
Roger Donaldson
On the web:
READER FEEDBACK
"The Bank Job" is sure to be described as a meat and potato heist movie, but there's a decent cabernet next to the plate.
This is an old-school caper movie, no doubt, but it has a literary feel as well — an efficient, no-nonsense thriller wedded to a work of juicy historical fiction (a welcome break from our steady diet of pulp).
The movie is built around actual history that dates to 1971, when a group of amateur crooks tunneled into a London bank vault and stole the contents of safe deposit boxes.
When coverage of the crime disappeared precipitously and without explanation from the papers a few days later, Londoners widely assumed the loot contained something related to national security — or better yet, the royal family. Something that must have caused the British government to exercise emergency power to quash media coverage.
Starting with these facts, veteran British scribes Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais create a narrative that blends speculation with actual names from the era — black power activist Michael X, for instance. There's an appearance by Lord Mountbatten, and a very special appearance by Princess Margaret, whose rumored appetite for naughty behavior results in illicit photographs that drive the plot.
It's set in motion when a roughneck named Terry (well-cast Jason Statham) gets a pitch from a ex-girlfriend Martine (Saffron Burrows) to participate in a bank job sold as a sure thing — due to the fact she knows when the alarm system will be turned off.
Terry recruits a band of friends/hoods to tunnel in, even though he suspects his ex is only giving him a fraction of the truth. He has no idea how tiny that fraction is — British intelligence has set the whole thing up, blackmailing Martine to use her underworld connections to pull off the heist. Their real target is the stash of "royal portraits;" the criminals are, of course, expendable.
There is the superficial drama of the mechanics of the heist and its chaotic aftermath. The real drama, though, pits the resourceful, blue-collar Terry against the self-satisfied aristocrats of British intelligence, a slew of corrupt cops and predatory local gangsters (David Suchet).
Director Roger Donaldson gives all of this to us in a very plain, very brown wrapper. This is perversely refreshing. Part of what makes "The Bank Job" watchable is what it isn't — another caper movie full of narrative gimmicks or characters named Franky Four Fingers.
"The Bank Job" is about as fancy its title. Its one concession to commercial taste is the 10 seconds it devotes to Statham's "Transport"-ish takedown of a rogue cop. And that's 10 seconds I heartily endorse. *
Produced by Charles Roven, Steven Chasman; directed by Roger Donaldson; written by Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais; music by J. Peter Robinson; distributed by Lionsgate.
This is an old-school caper movie, no doubt, but it has a literary feel as well — an efficient, no-nonsense thriller wedded to a work of juicy historical fiction (a welcome break from our steady diet of pulp).
The movie is built around actual history that dates to 1971, when a group of amateur crooks tunneled into a London bank vault and stole the contents of safe deposit boxes.
When coverage of the crime disappeared precipitously and without explanation from the papers a few days later, Londoners widely assumed the loot contained something related to national security — or better yet, the royal family. Something that must have caused the British government to exercise emergency power to quash media coverage.
Starting with these facts, veteran British scribes Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais create a narrative that blends speculation with actual names from the era — black power activist Michael X, for instance. There's an appearance by Lord Mountbatten, and a very special appearance by Princess Margaret, whose rumored appetite for naughty behavior results in illicit photographs that drive the plot.
It's set in motion when a roughneck named Terry (well-cast Jason Statham) gets a pitch from a ex-girlfriend Martine (Saffron Burrows) to participate in a bank job sold as a sure thing — due to the fact she knows when the alarm system will be turned off.
Terry recruits a band of friends/hoods to tunnel in, even though he suspects his ex is only giving him a fraction of the truth. He has no idea how tiny that fraction is — British intelligence has set the whole thing up, blackmailing Martine to use her underworld connections to pull off the heist. Their real target is the stash of "royal portraits;" the criminals are, of course, expendable.
There is the superficial drama of the mechanics of the heist and its chaotic aftermath. The real drama, though, pits the resourceful, blue-collar Terry against the self-satisfied aristocrats of British intelligence, a slew of corrupt cops and predatory local gangsters (David Suchet).
Director Roger Donaldson gives all of this to us in a very plain, very brown wrapper. This is perversely refreshing. Part of what makes "The Bank Job" watchable is what it isn't — another caper movie full of narrative gimmicks or characters named Franky Four Fingers.
"The Bank Job" is about as fancy its title. Its one concession to commercial taste is the 10 seconds it devotes to Statham's "Transport"-ish takedown of a rogue cop. And that's 10 seconds I heartily endorse. *
Produced by Charles Roven, Steven Chasman; directed by Roger Donaldson; written by Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais; music by J. Peter Robinson; distributed by Lionsgate.
