The Bank Job

As he’s in debt with a scary loanshark, dodgy East-end car dealer Terry Leather (Jason Statham) takes a bank robbery job with his ex, Martine (Saffron Burrows) who has inside information. Thinking he can make a better life for his wife (Keeley Hawes) and two young daughters, Terry puts together a team comprised of his best friends (Stephen Campbell Moore, Daniel Mays) and associates (Faulkner, David). Unfortunately, what Terry doesn’t know is that Martine is involved with an MI5 agent (Richard Lintern) and that the safe contains material valuable to both the British government and a local porn king (David Suchet).

The Bank Job is a heist movie that delivers exactly what it says on the tin. Impressively, it goes a few steps further and provides an involving tale full of suspense, humour and interesting characters. In the process, it eclipses the second and third – though not the first – installments of Stephen Soderbergh’s Ocean’s trilogy and exceeds a few expectations.

Though director Roger Donaldson’s CV is decidedly eclectic (from early Tom Cruise-vehicle Cocktail to alien sexathon sci-fi Species to underrated spy yarn The Recruit), he comes up trumps here. Unlike most caper movies, The Bank Job spends time developing its characters beyond mere chess pieces on a board and has a plot that is both complex, yet easy enough to follow. Thanks to screenwriters Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais – best known for groundbreaking show Auf Wiedersehen, Pet – the script is peppered with their staple male banter and chuckle-worthy moments.

Given that Terry Leather is a cheeky and likeable tough guy geezer from London, it was perhaps inevitable that Jason Statham was given the role. Able to play this sort of character asleep in between providing voice-overs for Kit-Kat adverts, Statham is entertaining as always and reminds me of a young Sean Connery in the way he holds the audience’s attention with charismatic presence and an incredibly distinctive voice. Though the support is good throughout, Mays stands out as the comic relief and Suchet makes us forget he was ever Poirot.

Interestingly, the movie is robbed of an original feel by reminding us of other material. As a British picture with time dedicated to the aftermath of a less-than-flawless bank robbery, it’s easy to recall Cleese and co. romp, A Fish Called Wanda. As its based on an actually-happened robbery where the cocky hero does it all for a better life with his family (but disappoints anyway), there are clear parallels with Phil Collins’ Buster. However, despite the cast, retro-setting and cops/robbers/spies plot also bringing to mind Kudos-produced Brit-shows Spooks, Life On Mars and Ashes To Ashes, most viewers will probably just be thinking, “who would you rather, Burrows or Hawes?”

As far as crime capers go, you could do a lot worse than The Bank Job and you certainly won’t leave the theatre feeling robbed.