“The Bank Job” (Lionsgate)
Take the Money and Run
“The Bank Job” is a movie based on a true story but it plays out like fiction. The planning and plotting that go into setting up the actual bank break-in, plus the assorted characters who have integral roles in the story, all are bigger than life and all make the film believable and unbelievable at the same time. For entertainment purposes it all works and creates a movie that makes you think while making you enjoy it at the same time.
Jason Statham (“Transporter”) is the major star of the film. He plays Terry Leather, a married man with two children living in London during the sixties. He is a car dealer with some brushes with the law in his past. One day an old friend named Martine (Saffron Burrows) shows up and tells him about a possible bank job. She makes it sound easy and convinces him to join in and do it. He brings along some of his friends to help out.
What Terry doesn’t know is Martine is being blackmailed by the British government into arranging the bank heist. In one of the safety deposit boxes in the bank are some photos of Princess Margaret taking part in an orgy. The government is being blackmailed by someone over those pictures.
The movie focuses on the robbery and its aftermath. Things do not go smoothly and seeing the crooks, the cops and the government officials scrambling to make the best of a bad situation is engrossing and enjoyable.
Statham is perfectly casting for a role such as Terry. He has the physical strength for the part as well as the strength of personality. He always looks as though something is going on behind his eyes, such as his next move. Plus you always have the feeling his character is going to come out on top.
Burrows is also good in the film. She is a beautiful woman in a non-traditional way. Her talent has been wasted recently on the TV series “Boston Legal” but roles such as this one should resurrect her career.
The film is rated R for profanity, violence and nudity.
The intricacies of plotting the robbery, the efficiency of cracking the bank, and the effect of the robbery on the individuals involved make this a movie that will hold your attention totally. It is good solid entertaining moviemaking at its best, and how long has it been since we had a movie like that
“The Bank Job” is a surprisingly enjoyable movie that seems to have come out of nowhere to entertain and charm its audience. Jason Statham is a personal favorite of mine but the movie itself is the draw here. It is good enough for word of mouth to bring in the customers.
I scored “The Bank Job” a professional 8 out of 10.
