The Bank Job tells the story of a group of
friends who take the opportunity to rob the vaults
of a bank in London. Terry (Statham) is approached
by an old friend (Burrows) who claims to know
someone in security who has told her that due to a
problem with the trains setting the alarms on they
wont be on for awhile. He soon persuades his friends
to join in with the robbery. What they don’t know
though is that Martine’s friends does not work in
security. He actually works for the Government and
he wants them to retrieve damning photos of a member
of the Royal family from Michael X, a troublesome
Jamaican revolutionary.
The robbery goes ahead but
not without its problems but they manage to get
away. However, things soon turn nasty when it
emerges that a Soho porn king/gangster also has
incriminating evidence in the vault and things turn
violent as he tries to get it back.
The Good:
The script is based on a true story with always
makes interesting viewing. It briefly made headlines
and then quickly disappeared due to a Government D
notice, gagging the press for 30 years. This gives
the film an air of mystery about it as we know we
are watching things that the Government and police
would prefer us not know about and a bit of scandal
concerning the Royal family is always a winner and
this (apart from Statham) is what I think will
mainly appeal to the American audience who always
seem interested in things to do with our Monarchy.
The characters are fun and well liked. Statham is in
a role he seems very comfortable with. It is rather
similar to his parts in Lock Stock and Snatch which
have a down to earth realism about them. There are
also some heart warming scenes between him and his
little girls including one where he is dancing with
one at a friend’s wedding However we also get to see
him in action near the end of the film and although
is character is very likeable he still has that
manly quality that makes him appealing to both male
and female
audiences.
The other characters are also
good. I’ve read reviews that say Saffron Burrows is
wooden but I felt she played her part well and is
well cast as a former model who gets caught up in a
scandal.
The film has a fun retro feel taking us
back to 1970s London and its T-Rex theme tune will
instantly catch you.
There are some pretty tense moments mixed in with
some pretty good one liners that make the film what
it is. It isn’t overly violent or over the top nor
is it a comedy but what we do get is well balanced.
The Bad:
As much as we love to see Statham’s fight scenes the
one is this seemed a little silly as he was fighting
someone a lot bigger than him and it as if it was
written into the film just because of who he is.
There will be those on the other hand who don’t
really care who he was fighting, again because of
who he is. There was sex scene between Statham and
Burrows cut from the film. This wouldn’t have been a
problem if it hadn’t been for a scene later on in
the film when them having sex is referred to and the
audience is meant to assume that it happened after a
kiss which we do see.
My View:
All in all The Bank job is an enjoyable film which
works well on many levels. It is pretty much a mans
film but isn’t violent enough to put off women who
will be attracted
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