The Bank Job (2008)

First of all, when a movie says that it is "based on a true story" that means absolutely nothing. So why do so many reviews put so much stock in that? I can't believe so many reviewers thought this was such a clever heist movie.I hope that no one involved in this project pulled a muscle in their brain coming up with the title "The Bank Job." Instead of a walkie-talkie they may as well have communicated with their lookout with bullhorns. Worst radio security ever.They have to take a nap in the middle of the job? In any event, there was no reason to bring this up in the film. And then they swill champagne a bit later?FYI: If you garrote someone there's no need to put a plastic bag over their head.

Wow! Based on the 1971 Baker Street bank robbery, the high profile contents with royal connections make this film, not just an ordinary bank robbery!I much prefer Jason Statham in his earlier British roles, before the action man stays appeared and a great cast to go along side. Attracting attention from every corner, this is a great British film that I recommend to see

The Bank Job (2008): Dir: Roger Donaldson / Cast: Jason Statham, Saffron Burrows, Stephen Campbell Moore, Daniel Mays, Richard Lintern: An entertaining yet terribly routine caper regarding a task gone wrong. Jason Statham stars as a criminal presented with a task of robbing the safe deposit boxes at a bank. He gathers a crew together but doesn't realize that their quest for wealth is actually a quest to obtain incriminating photos of authority figures. Structure is formula but screenplay is clever. Improvement for director Roger Donaldson who previously made such junk as Species and Dante's Peak. Statham does well trying to straighten out sabotage as well as complete the task at hand. Should viewers be applauding their actions? Perhaps not. Saffron Burrows plays an ex-girlfriend who lures him into this crime but he isn't sure whether she can be trusted. Other roles are either interesting or underused but they mainly serve as symbols for shabby screen writing. Among the supporting cast are Stephen Campbell Moore, Richard Lintern, and Daniel Mays and none of them appear to be scoring much in terms of a good career move here. Very similar to the original version of The Italian Job only the ending isn't nearly as clever. There is a lot of potential here yet the film still manages to fly south when failing to deliver a sense of purpose to an incomplete job. Score: 7 / 10

After seeing something in the region of 20 million British films released in the first decade of the 21st Century I eventually came to the conclusion that at least 19,999,990 were gangster films with a sub heading of " Cheeky gangsters try and steal some money . Thank you for creating us Guy Ritchie " . With a screen writing team of Le Frenais and Clements best known for their comedy scripts and with a starring role for Jason Statham who shot to fame in LOCK STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS one could be forgiven in thinking that THE BANK JOB sees Statham turn full circle and return to the sort of tongue in cheek movie that kick started the British cinema crime boom In some ways this is exactly how the movie plays out . A bunch of likable London geezers commit a heist only to find that some very unlikable villains aren't happy about it . Where it differs from the Guy Ritchie classic is that it's supposedly based on true events . You can work out who the real life Royal family member is but apart from that the rest of the characters are vague . It's interesting that the film ends with a caption saying that names have been changed to protect the guilty but one can't help thinking the guilty might only exist in the minds of the production team . It also leads to a rather incomprehensible ending that'll have you sneering " yeah right " Another problem is that Roger Donaldson is no Guy Ritchie . This isn't necessarily a major criticism and you do think perhaps if he did try to emulate Ritchie's style then he would have probably made a mess of it . It is some what noticeable that everything is a little bit flat and workman like on a visual level . Matthew Vaughen's LAYER CAKE did manage to bring something new and refreshing to the British gangster movie unlike here where everything chugs away nicely but there's nothing outstanding