A fresh twist on the heist flick
All-British cast of “The Bank Job” works well together
Posted on March 13, 2008
What are two things people are obsessed with these days? The first is a good heist movie with loads of fast-paced excitement and thrills. The second is British star Jason Statham. You can’t open a magazine or turn on the TV without seeing this popular English actor. When you put the two elements together, you have one solid movie.
Terry Leather (Statham, “The Transporter”) and his group of buddies, Martine Love (Saffron Burrows), Dave Shilling (Daniel Mays), Kevin Swain (Stephen Campbell Moore) and Eddie Burton (Michael Jibson), get roped into robbing a local bank for an MI 5 agent who goes by the name of Tim Everett (Richard Lintern). The deal: Steal the contents of safety deposit box 118 for the government and keep whatever else they take. Things don’t go according to plan and they end up being hunted by the government along with the owners of deposit box 118.
First of all, this movie is entirely British. The movie took place in London, and if you love British accents and British phrases you’re in for a treat. The cast works very well together. They play off each other great during the down time as well as the fast-paced action scenes. One small problem they have is trying to differentiate between the many older male characters, all of whom wear suits and are British. One person you won’t get confused with is main mob guy Michael X (Peter De Jersey), the so-called British counterpart of Malcolm X. He is what keeps this movie going and makes it an atypical heist movie.
Veteran American director Roger Donaldson (“Dante’s Peak,” “The Recruit”) tackles this overseas bank job movie with great expertise. For a movie with several side plots and back stories, it all comes together perfectly. The actual heist part is thrilling and factually sound. The settings and locations are wonderfully shot and show the city in a nice light. Although there isn’t a particular scene, actor or line that will blow you away and stay in your mind for days, it’s still a solid action thriller. It’s not over the top like “The Italian Job” and not as lame as “The Score.” This movie, to put it simply, is just a well put together film. It’s not going to be on American Film Institute’s top 100 list, but probably will strike you as one of the best heist movies in quite some time.
