The Bank Job

It's as if at the beginning somebody in the cinema played you some carefree, easy-going movie like Hold-up with Belmondo, and then in the second half the projectionist changed the reel and put on Damiani's Confessions of a Police Captain starring Franco Nero. In other words, at the beginning the film looked like a heist movie with a successful robbery and likeable protagonists, but then it became more and more a serious drama with people's lives and the highest political positions at stake. Too bad, had it stayed in the light-hearted atmosphere of the first half, I would have gone for a higher rating, although I admit that in the case of a film "based on a true story" these criticisms are somewhat unfounded. (05/13/2008)

I was a bit afraid it would be like another Ocean's Eleven, but that didn't happen in the end. Thank God for that. While it is about a heist, the focus is mainly on the consequences of this heist. Thanks to Statham and various intrigues, the film has a good pace and there's always something happening. Still, I had trouble getting into it. I guess it's also because I've never been that amazed by bank heist movies. (03/25/2014)

The Bank Job is a film that attempts to trendily jack the viewer off with the grateful seventies, but forgets all about it after ten minutes. Instead, it's unafraid to air one narrative bridge of asses after another, and even establish eighty-four narrative levels (notably the one with the hideous non-actress as Statham's wingman) that it doesn't care about anyway, so it continues to engage with them very sporadically throughout. But it must suck to film if you have to keep explaining to Statham that in this scene he's just going to talk to the guy again and not be able to smash his face in with his fist. By the end, no one seemed to have the nerve to do it anymore, so at least they let him kick some pensioner and throw a brick at an ugly guy's face. A lot of what took me out of the concept of a "pure" genre homage was the naturalism popping up here and there, which somehow didn't fit, but what do you want when one of the storylines is about black revolutionaries. Anyway, now that I've got that out of the way, I might as well justify the four stars. Well... honestly... I didn’t go wanting for anything while watching the movie... (08/30/2012)

Once upon a time, or maybe not, beyond scores of western countries, there existed an island kingdom. And there lived somebody called Terry who did what he could to get by in life. Until the time when a really great looking job fell into his lap. But, as you know, children, being a straw man is a tricky business - they can easily catch fire and then all sorts of strange things happen. Especially when the straw man in Statham’s stubborn delivery is running around scattering cinders on the scent of a real crime (however much this is just made up). It looks like just another in an infinite series of heist movies all tailored following the same, time tested template. But Donaldson approaches it from outside the box, or rather outside the bank. But the heist itself isn’t what’s important here. All the heist trump cards are thrown on the table in the first half of the movie to allow you to concentrate better on the really interesting thing here. The characters. I have not the slightest objection to the casting. I don’t intend to rain praise just on Statham, who got a proper role for a change, because he is just one cog in the perfectly lubricated machinery. I shall mention only Saffron Burrows. It’s hard for a guy to tear his eyes away from her figure. If we take her sex appeal, sparky charisma and acting talents, we see that her just-for-decoration contemporaries in Hollywood don’t come anywhere near her. They got the style and atmosphere of seventies London so right, it couldn’t have been done better. I adore this kind of dark horse that comes galloping in from nowhere, bringing a first-rate experience with them. The Bank Job is one of those movies, with all the trimmings. (05/27/2008)

A proper hill of boredom wrapped in a crazy British 1970s package. The dodgy accent can be endured, but not the clumsiness of the screenwriters and director. It's neither stylish retro, nor a quality and suspenseful crime story, the family drama doesn't work either, let alone the comedy. The motives of the main characters are unfounded, and the main plot point around which everything revolves doesn't seem like something worth going all out or breaking heads for. Jason Statham doesn't kick ass for the first time, and surprisingly, it can be watched, Saffron Burrows is great, the rest are just numbers. Solid potential, but ultimately absolute routine. (09/28/2008)