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 In cinemas now [MA15+]
Director: Roger Donaldson
Runtime: 111mins
The Bank Job is a gritty British caper based on the infamous Baker Street “walkie talkie” robbery in 1971. The robbery made headlines in London and was splashed all over the media until the government issued an official D-notice preventing any further coverage of the heist. Co-writers, Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, were so fascinated by the story that they decided to write the film and get director Roger Donaldson on board as well.
The film begins when Terry Leather (Jason Statham), a family man with a criminal history, is approached by former flame, Martine Love (Saffron Burrows) with a once in a lifetime opportunity. Leather accepts the lucrative job offer and starts to gather his other accomplices for the dangerous mission. The plan is to dig a tunnel underground and reach the vault of the bank, which holds numerous safety deposit boxes. As the story unfolds and the plot thickens, Leather and his team discover that some of the safety deposit boxes belong to cutthroat villains. Pornographer Lew Vogel (David Suchet) and corrupt Black Power leader Michael X (Peter de Jersey) have stored their incriminating documents and photographs in the vault, which are now in the robbers’ possession.
Just as you think the film is going to slow down the pace a little, it dives right back with frenetic speed and the villains proceed to break laws and legs to get back what they want.
The Bank Job is a complex and chaotic film that will keep you riveted from start to finish. It has everything a good British crime film needs: colourful characters, dark comedy, nice cars, drugs, money and, of course, an intricately planned crime. The robbery is a well thought out process and The Bank Job gang all have believable levels of skill and luck. In some other heist films the robbers are either portrayed as absolute geniuses or complete klutzes, so it is refreshing to see some convincing safe-cracking action.
All the performances are outstanding in The Bank Job and the script is flawless thanks to co-writers La Frenais and Clement, who have been a writing team for more than forty years. The film will definitely give you something to talk about as it keeps you guessing until the very end, and just as you think you know what’s going on, you are shocked once again. And the best thing is, it’s based on true events.
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GEMMA MUMFORD
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