The Story
It’s 1971 and incredibly high cheek-boned model Martine Love (Saffron Burrows) is stopped at the airport and arrested for smuggling drugs. Terry Leather (Jason Statham) is having problems keeping his car dealership afloat. Martine solves both their problems by telling Terry about a bank that’s about to undergo a change in its security system, leaving a very small window of opportunity to break into the safe deposit vault and wipe out the vault’s contents. Terry, a bit down on his luck and with a wife and child to care for, decides to go for it.
Terry’s sharper than he looks, but not savvy enough to put two and two together before finding himself knee deep in a boatload of trouble. Money and jewels aren’t the real treasures discovered in the bank’s safe deposit boxes. Perusing their loot, Terry and his crew find a batch of photos featuring a very well-known member of the Royal Family in an extremely compromising (and naked) situation. There’s also some x-rated footage featuring government officials having fun with whips, chains, and other S&M toys. The bank robbers quickly figure out what Martine was really after, and deduce they’ve been set up. But nasty photos and millions in cash aren’t the only things in their possession that’ll get them in trouble. No, there’s a certain member of the criminal underworld who kept his book of payoffs to dirty cops in his safe deposit box and he’s willing to kill to get that ledger back.
Jason Statham’s a much better actor than I’ve given him credit for, and as the guy who pulls things together in The Bank Job, Statham delivers his best performance to date. There’s only the smallest amount of action required in The Bank Job from Statham, an actor who built his career on being the guy to turn to when films call for a tough but handsome brute who can handle his fists. The Bank Job sets Statham free of the action movie constraints, and allows him the chance to explore a character with a little more emotional depth than his usual roles. He takes advantage of the opportunity and shows there's a sensitive side to the guy we normally see playing hard as nails characters.
In addition to Statham, Donaldson has assembled an ensemble cast that’s entirely believable. Statham’s friends/bank robbing crew come across as a bunch of guys who’ve been through hard times together, and have had each other’s backs in sticky situations before. Burrows, as just about the only female face onscreen, holds her own amongst the film’s male population. She’s never one of the boys, but she is the driving force behind the central story.
The Bottom Line
How much is real and how much sprang from the vivid imaginations of the screenwriting team isn’t all that important. I’d assume the basics are there and a lot of artistic license was taken as far as what happened inside the vault and in the immediate aftermath of the robbery. Whatever the mix of fantasy and reality, The Bank Job does a great job of keeping the audience guessing the entire 110 minute running time. By feeding out important parcels of the story a little at a time and not tying neat little bows around each character’s part in the pic until absolutely necessary (don’t go for popcorn or you’ll miss something important), director Donaldson offers up a movie that’s edgy and even darkly humorous at times, and definitely worth a trip to the theater.
GRADE: B+
The Bank Job was directed by Roger Donaldson and is rated R for sexual content, nudity, violence and language.
Theatrical Release Date: March 7, 2008
