The true story of a heist gone wrong... in all the right ways.
Inspired by the infamous 1971 robbery that took place at the Lloyd's Bank in Marylebone London, the highly-charged heist thriller tautly interweaves high-level corruption, murder and sexual scandal in 1970s England. A car dealer with a dodgy past and new family, Terry (Jason Statham) has always avoided major-league scams. But when Martine (Saffron Burrows), a beautiful model from his old neighbourhood, offers him a lead on a foolproof bank hit on London's Baker Street, Terry recognizes the opportunity of a lifetime. Martine targets a roomful of safe deposit boxes worth millions in cash and jewellery. But Terry and his crew don't realize the boxes also contain a treasure trove of dirty secrets - secrets that will thrust them into a deadly web of corruption and illicit scandal that spans London's criminal underworld, the highest echelons of the British government, and the Royal Family itself... the true story of a heist gone wrong... in all the right ways.
Special Agent Matti
The bank job is the epitome of all those British crime thrillers that came out of the Sixties and Seventies like Get Carter and The Italian Job: East End gangsters, crooked coppers, impossible odds, dodgy blokes and bits of skirt in need of a good rodgering. The only difference is that this film is true and if you know your Royals then you'll know just who the Royal bit of skirt getting a good rodgering is. Not that I would ever engage in gossip.
Jason Statham plays his standard cocky British gangster with Saffron Burrows supplying a sexy bit of non-Royal skirt. The story is well-plotted but this kind of movie is such a standard of the industry that it feels generic. If you're hanging out for a few British accents and too much corduroy then you'll love The bank job, otherwise you can wait until it comes out on DVD.
The crime, true, UK movie The bank job is directed by Roger Donaldson and stars Jason Statham, Saffron Burrows, Stephen Campbell Moore.
MA 15+ (Strong coarse language and sexual references)
112 minutes (1:52 hours)
Film: 31 July 2008
