The Bank Job | 
 enlarge | Director: Roger Donaldson
Actors: Jason Statham, Saffron Burrows, Stephen Campbell Moore, Daniel Mays, James Faulkner
Studio: Lionsgate
Category: Movie
Buy New: $3.99
Rating:  69 reviews
Sales Rank: 107
Genre: Action
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: Video On Demand
Running Time: 112
ASIN: B001E7EONC
Theatrical Release Date: March 7, 2008
Release Date: November 25, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 64 more reviews...
 ok flik November 30, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Statham is always great, but this movie was slow and boring. The only good part is that its a true story. And the English accents drove me crazy.
If you want a great movie, its not this one. Watch Street Kings!!
 Surprisingly exciting November 29, 2008
I didn't know anything about this film prior to seeing it other than that it was based on a true story about a group of English petty criminals who decide to tunnel beneath a bank in order to rob safe deposit boxes. The heist is the idea of a woman played by Saffron Burrows, who has a specific and ulterior motive for wanting to rob a certain safe deposit box.
Jason Statham shows that he's grown as an actor in this one. He's moved beyond simply scowling and karate chopping people in the windpipe. His crew members are distinct and colorful, and they are extremely likeable despite their criminal acts.
This film isn't fancy. It's a sad story told simply and in straightforward fashion. It's not as polished as The Italian Job or as smarmy as Ocean's Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen. It's a no-frills tale that will leave you wondering at the lengths people will go to for wealth and to save their skin when they get in trouble.
Sexed up, but still boring November 25, 2008
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
The Bank Job has more nudity and blatant semi-porn than any movie I've seen in a while. Unless you're a thirteen year old male, or want to watch porn without the stigma of actually having to rent it, you might find this movie a bit boring. I'm all for period pieces that are free from cliched car chases, violent shoot-em ups, or two-dimensional characters, but sadly this movie lacks the former but without the compelling plot of a true drama. There is a haphazard quality to the film. At times I was expecting it to go the direction of Oceans 11 and be a 'lovable set of criminals' movie where each character contributes their set of skills to accomplish a goal; a sort of criminal 'magnificent seven.' The Bank Job starts down that path, but then abandons it in mid stream.
Aside from Jason Stratham's character, all of the criminal gang are faceless and pretty unremarkable in the end. There is little likability among them. Also, the stakes feel fairly low until near the end of the film, when they are jacked through the roof, contributing to the unbalanced quality of the narrative flow. Most importantly, one of the best plot elements is left relatively unexplored: the story of a female MI5 agent who has infiltrated a domestic terrorist organization. Deeper examination of her story would have provided a very interesting parallel to the main action.
This is a busting at the seams steam fest with crud loads of gratuitous sex, nudity, and titillation, but with very little real substance. If you want a cleaner alternative, check out Flawless. If you want a more traditional, more action packed heist movie, watch The Italian Job. If you want something in the middle, there is always The Thomas Crown Affair.
Exceeds the formulaic take on the bank heist genre November 24, 2008
I went into "The Bank Job" thinking it would be a rather formulaic cinematic take on the bank heist genre. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised. This is quite good stuff! I especially liked the 'Extras' on the DVD, which reinforced how much of the tale was snatched from a real-life event. Hats off to co-writers Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais for wrapping a taut thriller around that.
I was looking for a way to characterize my feeling about Jason Statham. Then, I read this pitch-perfect gem from reviewer Monkdude on these pages: "I'm not the biggest Jason Statham fan, mainly because he always looks and sounds the same in every role, but here he shows a little more range and is quite likeable."
Exactly! He'll always be Handsome Rob (The Italian Job (Special Collector's Edition)) in my book. Lucky for me, he continues to play slight variations on that role. Hey, why mess with success? The guy's carved out quite a good career, despite having started as a model. [Guy Ritchie put him Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels (Widescreen Edition) straight from a French Connection UK ad shoot.]
What struck me in the Extras is how Statham's managers picked and shepherded this film as a project for him. [I think this was Steve Chasman discussing this point - he's a producer of the film.] I'm impressed. As I mentioned earlier, Statham's got a nice little career going. Good management has definitely played a part in that. Good show, Steve Chasman.
The best caper film I've seen in years November 16, 2008
Everybody enjoys a good heist flick, and this one is much better than most. Based on the true story of the 1971 robbery of a bank in London's Baker Street, it involves a group of small-time crooks who use ingenuity and imagination to make their big score by tunneling under the bank's vault. And this one turned out to be bigger even than the Great Train Robbery. Terry Leather, whose used car business is slightly bent, is recruited by a woman with whom he used to be involved -- who was strong-armed into it by MI-5, which actually wants to acquire the contents of one of the bank's safety deposit boxes, which includes some incriminating photos involving a Royal Person, which were taken by a Trinidadian hoodlum, whom the government is consequently powerless to arrest. Yes, stated like that, it's a somewhat complicated plot, but the characters explain everything very nicely along the way. Not all the characters survive the robbery's aftermath, but those who do pretty much get away with it -- and are mostly sympathetic, at that. One thing that makes this yarn especially enjoyable, at least to me, is that there are no big-name stars. In fact, Peter Bowles (whom I remember from _To the Manor Born,_ 25 years ago) is the only one I had even heard of. This means the actors are defined entirely by their roles here, and the result is almost like a documentary. The result is much preferable to the _Ocean's Eleven_ remake.
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