The Bank Job
by Catherine Lee

“The names have been changed to protect the guilty.” That’s the cheeky disclaimer at the end of The Bank Job, a heist caper based on the true story of a very infamous robbery that took place in London in 1971. There are dozens of juicy “guilty” people in this very enjoyable movie. Sympathetic criminals, highly unsympathetic “good” guys and plenty of twists and complications make The Bank Job suspenseful and fun.

Hollywood uses this time of year, the dead of winter, to dump a lot of undistinguished films into theaters before summer heats up. The Bank Job is a welcome relief from the wasteland of bad movies currently stinking up the multiplexes.

Martine Love, a beautiful former model played by the sultry voiced, gorgeous and seductive Safron Burrows, gets busted with drugs on her way back in to Britain. To get out of this jam she agrees to do a little work for MI5, or is it MI6? (No one in The Bank Job can keep them straight.) She is recruited by the ambitious agent Tim Everett, played by Richard Lintern, who ably suggests a wannabe James Bond type. He needs to retrieve some photographs of a Royal in highly compromising positions while on holiday in the Caribbean. The photographs are being used by Michael X (Peter De Jersey), a nasty thug who styles himself as a champion of black people. Martine is supposed to collect a gang and rob the safety deposit boxes of a branch of Lloyd’s Bank. She knows she’s supposed to turn over the contents of a particular box, but she doesn’t know that British intelligence is setting up this job. All she knows is that the thieves get to keep whatever they find, except the contents of this one box.

Martine does know a collection of friends who do have a criminal side. They are lead by Terry Leather, who runs a garage and is in debt to a very tough character. Jason Statham (the Transporter series, The Italian Job and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) is very believable at the center of this swirling plot. He wants to make a big score and get out, and he’s willing to take a chance on this job. Terry and Martine used to have a thing together, but he’s not blinded by what used to be. But the hook that the bank is changing security systems, leaving the vault vulnerable for a window of opportunity, sounds too good not to try. The rest of this gang includes likable, not terribly dangerous types. They rob the bank the old-fashioned way, by drilling under the bank from a neighboring storefront. They run in to a bunch of trouble, which I won’t spoil by detailing, but it is fun to sit and wonder what will happen. Cops – corrupt and honest – and the crooks’ own bumbling are some of the problem, but they also steal the secrets of a porn king (David Suchet), a madam and a few high placed members of the government. They have a lot of people after them.

I like caper movies and went to see The Bank Job without knowing anything about the movie. Only after seeing it did I find out that it was made by people who would have made me buy a ticket. The Bank Job is directed by Roger Donaldson. He has made some stinkers (13 Days, Cocktail), but he’s also made some good pictures, including the suspenseful and sexy No Way Out. 

But his last picture was his best to date. The World’s Fastest Indian is the true story of Burt Munro, a crazy coot of a guy who set a land speed record that still holds on a motorcycle he’d customized himself. Donaldson wrote, produced and directed Indian, and if you haven’t seen this little gem of a movie, starring Anthony Hopkins having about as much fun as he’s ever had in a role, go rent it soon.

The Bank Job has energy and looks great. Donaldson never resorts to shaky cam to suggest something is happening, and I’m grateful and delighted to see a movie that doesn’t subject me to cheap tricks. He trusts his material, which is rich with the opportunity he exploits.

The Bank Job is written by Dick Clement and Ian LaFrenais, the screenwriters for Julie Taymor’s Across the Universe. And as you delve deeper into their filmography you find some gems. My two favorites would be The Commitments, a great rock n’ roll comedy, and Vice Versa, one of my favorite parent-child switching comedies. The screenplay for The Bank Job is a solid frame with a lot of story and characters, but it never gets too confusing or needs to fuzzy up inconsistencies to pay off. It has a few funny lines. When Lord Mountebatten is called on to be part of a crucial exchange, he exclaims, “I haven’t had this much excitement since the war.” My favorite script detail is the use of a Bible verse as an expletive. “Jesus wept!” exclaims a gentleman when he realizes just how incriminating the loot of this robbery is. The politicians in The Bank Job suffer the same narcissistic sense of privilege as New York governors, so it is easy to cheer on the robbers. I only wish more of them would have made it out alive. The total value of the take for this bank job, which is known in Britain as the “Walkie Talkie Robbery” has never been determined. No one was ever arrested. None of the loot was ever recovered. After a few days in the news, the story disappeared. A governmental “D” notice, gagging the press, had been ordered. Many high-ranking police officers lost their jobs.

Where do you hide jewelry and cash and other goodies you are hiding from the tax man or a spouse? In a safety deposit box, of course, as the savvy madam informs the police. The estimated value of what was stolen is over 20 million pounds, but it could be much higher. Many of those robbed refused to provide police with a list of the contents of their boxes. Jesus wept!

Copyright 2008 Ad Media Inc.