Director: Ronnie Thompson
Writer: Dean Lines, Ray Bogdanovich, Ronnie Thompson (Screenplay)
Starring: Matthew Goode, Phil Daniels, Larry Lamb, Clive Russell, David Calder, Mark Harris, Stephen Moyer, Joely Richardson
Plot: In April 2015, the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Company, an underground safe deposit facility in London’s Hatton Garden area, was burgled by 4 elderly men. The total stolen may have a value of up to £200 million, the incident has been called the “largest burglary in English history.”
Tagline – The mastermind. The driver. The fixer.
Runtime: 1 Hour 33 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: By the Book
Story: The Hatton Garden Job starts as we meet thief XXX (Goode) who has been working with young thieves, which has landed him in prison, inside he makes new contacts which offer up a massive job. XXX must put together a team, he goes old school with Danny (Daniels), Brian (Lamb), Kenny (Russell) and Terry (Calder) as they prepare to put the job together to break into the Hatton Garden security vault, one that is considered unreachable.
The team funded by Hungarian mobster Erzebet Zslondos (Richardson) who will sell them information, for what is inside, the job looks like it could work, even with ex-copper Frank Baskin (Harris) sniffing around XXX’s activities.
Thoughts on The Hatton Garden Job
Characters – XXX is the man that has been robbing bankers, only to see himself end up in jail, once released he uses his new contacts to get a new job, the biggest of his career, he turns to the old school members of the criminal world for this job, which sees him needing to take risks, while listening to others who take charge of the operation. Danny is the contact between the two sides, he has worked with XXX for years now, he trusts his style and will back him when it comes to the old school. Brian is the old school thief, he has all the contacts in the city, knows who to trust and who to not, he plans the operation, his way and only his way. Kenny is the driver, the dumbest member of the crew, with most of his scenes, being him struggling to understand a joke.
Performances – Matthew Goode in the leading role is strong enough, he brings the cockney to his performances, which does work for the leading role, while Phil Daniels, Larry Lamb, Clive Russell and David Calder complete the full cockney required for the film.
Story – The story follows five thieves that looks to break into one of the most secure vaults in London, the Hatton Garden vault, with pressure from the mobster paying for the job, a nosey ex-cop and time, can they pull this off. This story is based of one of the most famous recent crimes in England, it made front page news because of what was stolen, how the thieves got into the vault and how no clues about them were found. This is also one of the biggest problems with the story, we know the aftermath, we don’t need to be spending the whole story watching how they planned it and did it, we needed to spend more time on the aftermath, which is the more interesting story. How the story is told, is everything we have seen before, with a couple of old people jokes thrown in.
Action/Crime – The film uses the action to show the crime, it isn’t the most flashy action, with the crime story taking center stage, which does hold back the thrilling side of the film being sucked out, by knowing the truth.
Settings – The film uses the London setting, which is filled with cockney neighbourhood that is all about respect.
Scene of the Movie – The robbery.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Not showing enough of the aftermath.
Final Thoughts – This is a by the book heist movie that we have seen before in how it unfolds, it is filled with old timer jokes, only for it to fall short on how everything is executed, only for the film to fail to shine on the aftermath of the crime.
Overall: Simple Heist Film.
