It’s an elaborate caper, with odd but oddly believable crooks, compelling villains and loads of swell British slang circa 1971.
And the kicker? It really happened.
There are incriminating photographs of a sexual nature that a Jamaican drug dealer and pimp and sometime “revolutionary” has stashed in a safe-deposit box. British intelligence (MI5) knows about them and wants those photos destroyed.
So they blackmail a drug smuggler, Martine (Saffron Burrows), into setting up a heist. MI5 helps arrange it. The bank’s alarm system won’t be on. All the smuggler has to do is tempt others into doing the work, lads from the old neighborhood, the old life, maybe even an old flame (Jason Statham).
Terry (Statham) only wants to “get out of the game.” He’s behind on his underworld debts. He’s about to lose his garage. So he lures in some “villains” he’s friendly with to help. There’s Dave the porn actor (Daniel Mays), Kevin the photographer (Stephen Campbell Moore), a Cypriot tunnel-and-tools expert and a con man/haberdasher with a “posh accent” to rent the store they’ll need to dig from.
They’re amateurs in every sense. They make too much noise. They’re clumsy with the tools, including a “thermic lance,” which burns through concrete. They chatter on walkie-talkies that “we’re almost in the vault” and the like.
They don’t hide their faces, and they don’t wear gloves.
At least Terry is the suspicious type. He wonders what Martine’s angle is if “Old Bill” (the cops) shows up and “things turn to custard.” Roger Donaldson, a sometime action director (“The Recruit,” “The World’s Fastest Indian”) takes a while to find his footing here. But as the heist unfolds and we’re fully introduced to all the competing characters and opposing agendas, “The Bank Job” crosses from uncertain to engrossing.
A strip club owner (David Suchet) has secrets in the bank. A madam has “client” photos and film hidden there. Corrupt cops are furious that they weren’t in on it. The Jamaican, Michael X (Peter De Jersey), worries that he’s lost his blackmail photos. Members of Parliament, government officials and nobility fret over what may come out.
And the happy-go-goofy crooks realize they’ve opened “a whole bloody Pandora’s box.” Statham, stripped of his martial arts and assorted other C-movie action star crutches, plays a milder version of the stubbly tough guy he’s given us before. He’s not so tough here. He’s a family man with things to lose, but still willing to take one last risk.
The supporting cast sketches in their characters in quick, subtle strokes. Suchet, TV’s Hercule Poirot, plays the smart underworld porn lord who can seem in control even if he’s in as far over his head as everyone else.
Heist-picture clichés such as the divide-the-loot session, the kidnap and torture of gang members and “the handoff” are managed with aplomb.
The film doesn’t cover much ground that 100 years of heist movies haven’t been over before. But as the mistakes and blunders turn deadly, and the outcome grows more and more doubtful, Donaldson, Statham and company make us care who lives, who dies and who will end up doing time for “The Bank Job.”
A new “job” for Statham”
Jason Statham has become a favorite action star since Guy Ritchie’s 1999 film “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.” He gets a starring role in today’s release, “The Bank Job.” Here’s a look at his top five grossing films (figures in millions):
1. The Italian Job $106.1, 2003
2. The One $43.9, 2001
3. Transporter 2 $43.1, 2005
4. Cellular $32, 2004
5. Snatch $30.3, 2000
“The Bank Job”
R for sexual content, nudity, violence and language. 1 hour, 50 minutes. Directed by Roger Donaldson. Written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. Photography by Michael Coulter. Starring Jason Statham, Saffron Burrows, David Suchet, Daniel Mays. Opens today at area theaters.
* * 1/2 HEIST CAPER
