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SUMMARY:
In this fact-based British drama,
reformed thief Terry (Jason Statham) is approached by his boyhood
girlfriend Martine Love (Saffron Burroughs) about putting together a
crew for a “sure thing” bank robbery involving a huge payoff. What she
doesn’t tell him is that the real target of the heist is not the money
but something that puts Terry and his crew into considerable danger.
STEVE SAYS:
Sorry to be a little late getting to
this one, but I had to sooner or later. I’m a sucker for a caper film,
be it TOPKAPI, THE ITALIAN JOB, THE STING or OCEAN’S ELEVEN. What made
me nearly skip it was the presence of Jason Statham. I don’t really have
anything against Statham except that his movies are usually best
reserved for free viewing on television. His TRANSPORTER franchise, for
example, usually shows off his ability to follow fight choreography far
better than showcasing any discernable acting skills. But the movie got
a ton of better-than-average reviews, which made my radar antenna go up.
Turns out THE BANK JOB is entertaining and engrossing, but doesn’t quite
have the punch and suspense that most heist movies do. There is an
extended sequence featuring a lookout who is overheard on his walkie
talkie by a ham radio operator, triggering the police to close in on the
heist in progress. It should be far more gripping and suspenseful than
it is.
The script by long-time British writing duo Dick Clement and Ian La
Fenaise takes far to long to get down to the nuts and blots of executing
the heist itself. Granted, time must be allocated for planning the job,
plus any character introductions that need to be made. But a good heist
movie knows when to get to the good stuff. This one just takes a little
too much time. Clement and La Frenaise are a versatile team whose
writing has run the gamut from ACROSS THE UNIVERSE to the Tracy Ullman
HBO series TRACY TAKES ON... In this case, we could have used a little
less snappy dialogue and a speedier cut to the chase...or in this case,
the caper.
This story is grounded in reality without being slavishly wed to it.
There was indeed a British bank robbery in the 1970s in which walkie
talkies were overheard and police dispatched, but they couldn’t find the
right bank in time. When it was all over, there was a high-level
government information black-out placed on the story and several of its
principals walked away scot free. Clement and La Frenaise use this as a
springboard for the proposal of their own idea about what really went
on. It’s an interesting theory that involved a very high level member of
the British Royal Family.
Back to the subject of Jason Statham’s acting...it takes a turn for the
better here. He is asked to play a believable human being who doesn’t
engage in the kind of super-hyped physical battles that mark most of his
films. (Don’t worry, Statham fans. TRANSPORTER 3 is in the works). He
delivers a low-key, realistic performance here that shows there are some
acting chops there after all.
Co-star Saffron Burrows (DEEP BLUE SEA, TVs BOSTON LEGAL) is
appropriately sultry and pouty as Terry’s old girlfriend, who is
blackmailed by the government into instigating the robbery in the first
place. She’s a competent actress who, given her first name, should have
had a shot at being a Spice Girl.
The rest of the cast is little known on this side of the pond but they
provide good support for a movie that should have been better than it
was.
Direction by Roger Donaldson (NO WAY OUT, THE RECRUIT) is taut and
effective. The New Zealander is maintaining a directing career that is
effectively international in scope.
THE BANK JOB will probably satisfy your need to be entertained for a
couple of hours. But there’s no pressing need to run out to the nearest
multiplex to see it before it’s gone. It’ll be just as effective with
microwave popcorn as it is with the theater kind.
* * * *
CHRIS SAYS:
I really have a lot of mixed feelings
on this one. I am a Jason Statham fan. I have unfortunately been that
way since CRANK. Its not that CRANK was a good movie, its just
that...well the fight scenes were AWSOME! Blame it on the fact that I am
sixteen. Well anyway, THE BANK JOB was a surprise. We finally know that
Jason can indeed act. This realization was a part of the movie that I
liked.
As for the long beginning that my father mentioned, it is somewhat true.
But I felt like they didn’t do this to excess or we would have been
yawning in our seats. The truth is there was A LOT to set up in this
storyline. They needed a little extra time to get that in place. I also
think this movie was less about the heist itself and more about the
effects, either adverse or positive to certain characters in the movie.
So the slow beginning is called for.
Overall the acting was your regular fare, nothing Oscar winning or
really amazing. Hence my mixed emotions, I liked the movie but it just
wasn’t anything that was memorable. THE BANK JOB will fall into
obscurity, forever known as an okay movie. As my dad said, it is a movie
you’d watch if you were channel surfing one day and saw Jason Statham.
So ends my review.
* * * *
March 19, 2008 |
