You wouldn’t believe how rare it is to see Jason Statham as something other than a driver or some hitman with a heart of gold or whatever. Actually it is refreshing to see him no do karate or shoot someone with extreme prejudice. To my amusement and that of the audience, The Bank Job is a refreshing change of pace from his usual ware of vengeance and gratuitous roundhouses. Now I like heist films a lot and The Bank Job is based on the Baker Street robbery in London in 1971. So with a bit of realism behind the act, I am relatively surprised as to how this robbery was pulled off from shot a ragtag group of misfits and scoundrels.
Terry Leather (Statham) was a small-time car dealer who was trying to leave his shady past behind and start a family. Though he’d never been involved in any major crimes, he wasn’t exactly on the straight and narrow his whole life either. Martine Love (Burrows) is a beautiful model from Terry’s old neighborhood who knows that her former neighbor is no angel. When Martine proposes a foolproof plan to rob a Baker Street bank, Terry recognizes the danger but realizes this may be the opportunity of a lifetime. As the operation gets underway, the resourceful band of thieves burrows its way into a safe-deposit vault at the Lloyds Bank in Marylebone, quickly hitting a literal treasure trove of cash and priceless gems. But while the crew did know that the safe-deposit boxes contained millions in riches, they didn’t realize that they also contained secrets that implicated everyone from London’s most notorious underworld gangsters to powerful government figures, and even the Royal Family. Though the crime would make headlines all across Britain for several days after the fact, a government gag order eventually brought all reporting on the case to an immediate halt. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
I wasn’t sure what to make of a film that featured a diverse cast of British actors and the fact that the heist itself plays out like a bumbling stage play of people who only know about bank robbing from watching too many movies on the subject. It’s the sort of charm that the characters have that make The Bank Job and the robbery, an enjoyable and fun time. It isn’t conducted in the smoothest manner, in fact shit goes wrong many time over, but the way the story plays out is fun to experience.
The ensemble cast is enjoyable to watch as they aren’t your typical bank robbers nor are they showing any semblance of the hero archetype. The character are just working class Joes who just manage to pull off a heist that nets them some money, but also gets them wrapped up in something larger with the materials they steal. They have a good rhythm to their interactions and seem to feed off of one another. There isn’t a lot of grandstanding from one particular actor that sets them apart from each other, but they all seem to be on the same level. It is a pleasure though to see Statham as a regular character and not some super-pumped action star.
While the story is rooted in true events, there is a lot of liberty taken with the events as they have never been released to the public since the Royal family put a gag order in place. Thus the directors have to take a bit of liberty with the story and elements, but it still makes for an interesting time and rambunctious robbery. It does add a bit of mystery as to what was stolen and what would happen if it all came to light. It is a silly film with some smart comedic elements and solid acting between all those involved. Whether the story ends the way the director intended is an entire notion altogether since the whole story hasn’t been published. As a heist film, it is an entertaining ride and one of the better Statham films out there.
*images via RottenTomatoes
