THE BANK JOB
THE BANK JOB |
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The story of a bank hesit that went right and had capacity to cripple the British monarhcy. Insipired by London's 1971 "Walkie- Talkie-Robbery". | score 3 |
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| Cast Jason Statham, Saffront Burrows, Stephen Campbell Moore, Daniel Mays, James Faulkner, Michael Jibson Director Roger Donaldson Screenwriter Dick Clement Ian La Frenais Country UK Rating / Running Time MA / 111 minutes Australian Release July 2008 Official Site (c) moviereview
2006-2008
ABN 72 775 390 361 |
The
first thing Roger Donaldson does with this ‘true story’
crime-caper is dump the tailored suits that make robbing bank vaults so
much fun. Oceans 11 in scope, it ends up as a feature length mix of The Italian Job meets Minder. Although the plot is prone to dawdling and Jason Statham is no Michael Caine, The Bank Job is a gritty little number that never forgets its audience. London, 1971and Terry is a dodgy car dealer who knows all the wrong people. When one of them, Martine (Saffron Burrows), makes an offer he can’t ignore, Terry puts together a team to relieve a bank of their safety deposit boxes. What he doesn’t know is that Martine is being run by MI5 and they have more to gain from Terry’s break-in than cash and jewels. The safe contains very dirty secrets, some which lead all the way to Buckingham Palace. The spark in Donaldson’s rousing affair is it’s old-school tone – The Bank Job is like a lost episode of TV’s The Professionals. Based on rumour and hearsay, it’s also an intelligent imagining of what went right in the mysterious and then hi-tech “Walkie-Talkie-Robbery”. Donaldson has long been a workman like director who sometimes gets it right (Thirteen Days) and sometimes gets it wrong (Dante’s Peak). This rests in-between; intriguing, entertaining yet not always fulfilling its potential. Which is not to say The Bank Job is not effective, but for a story as broad and devastating as this (after all, their crime had the potential to cripple the monarchy), you can’t help hoping for a little more bite. Unswerving B-listers Statham and Burrows don’t fully invigorate their characters and Donaldson misses some opportunities. Yet in a world dominated by juiced-up action yarns, it’s gratifying to watch a film keep its head and assert itself in a grown-up fashion. // COLIN FRASER |