337 - The Bank Job review

Thanks to the likes of "Ocean's Eleven," the contemporary heist film is one of electronic tricks and labyrinthine scams. The hair-raising exploits of onscreen bank robbers have become so complex and outlandish that a real-life gang of villains would need three Hollywood screenwriters to help craft their plan.

But here comes "The Bank Job," a solid little heist thriller whose characters get their loot using jackhammers and shovels instead of computer viruses and elaborate cons. Set in 1970's London, most of the film is plausible enough that when we consider that the titles assured us it was based on a true story, we don't have to balk, at least until we get to the climax.

Jason Statham stars as Terry, a lowlife car salesman with a big debt to local hoods. When Martine (Saffron Burrows), an old flame of Terry's, is pinched for drug smuggling, they field a most unusual proposition: find some suckers to break into a bank vault. See, a nasty drug-dealer has disturbingly explicit photographs of a member of the royal family, and the Brits won't act against him until he is deprived of his blackmail material.

Thus, she turns over the pics, and the gang can keep everything else that can be absconded from the safety deposit boxes. She enlists Terry, who in turn gets recruits a few more men; an engineer, a con man, and even a porn star, because someone needs to shovel debris. They rent out a purse store two lots over from the bank and get to work at tunneling through to the vault, blissfully unaware of the political firestorm they're smack in the middle of.

The film doesn't rush or crawl, but methodically progresses through the in's and out's of the setup, robbery, and aftermath. Parties ranging from gangsters to spooks to crooked cops get involved, each with their own angle and particular need for the contents of the vault. We've seen this sort of film before, but it's very well handled, American audiences much aided by the character's crisp pronunciation of dialogue (ever watch a film where lower-class Englishmen speak like they actually do? Might as well be speaking Swahili).

The characters aren't as colorful as those seen in the "Ocean's Eleven" films and their imitators, but are likeable enough without the script trying too hard, though not particularly memorable. I suppose that must be part of the appeal; the pleasant ease with which they can be enjoyed, sympathized with, and then forgotten. Away from the badass shtick that made him famous, Statham proves he’s just as charming playing a petty criminal as he is a cold-blooded murderer or a corrupt policeman.

Just how much of this "true story" is true, I don't know, and a quick web search reveals that not many others do either, as many of the details are literally classified by the British government.

"The Bank Job" is somewhat like a heist itself; you plan to see it, you do so, and walk away satisfied, minus the wealth. Not a bad job. Not great, either.

3 out of 5