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Movie Review - The Bank Job (2008)
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(What this rating means)
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| Director: |
Roger Donaldson |
| Starring: |
Jason Statham, Saffron Burrows, and a bunch of other people you've never heard of |
| Rated: |
R (for a bunch of nudity and cussing and stuff) |
| Length: |
110 minutes |
| Genre: |
Thriller/Heist |
| Tagline: |
The true story of a heist gone wrong... in all the right ways. |
| Studio: |
Lionsgate |
| Website: |
The Bank Job |
| Release: |
March 8, 2008 |
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PLOT
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In September 1971, thieves tunneled into the vault of a bank in London's Baker Street and looted safe deposit boxes of cash and jewelry worth millions and millions of pounds.
None of it was recovered. Nobody was ever arrested. The robbery made headlines for a few days and then suddenly disappeared - the result of a UK Government 'D Notice', gagging
the press. The Bank Job reveals what was hidden in those boxes, involving murder, corruption and a sex scandal with links to the Royal Family - a story in which the
thieves were the most innocent people involved. Jason Statham's five o'clock shadow ensues.
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JOHNNY'S TAKE
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My laughter having finally subsided from watching a trailer for the ridiculously-titled Midnight Meat Train (to Georgia?), I was ready for a little Jason Statham bank
heist action! I don't know exactly what it is about Statham, but he's the kind of actor that just exudes coolness. He just has a look that says, "Yeah, I'm bald, and I'll totally
kick your butt because I'm bored" and we love it. Mention his name to most savvy moviegoers and you'll most likely get a "he's the man" or "he's so Johnny Betts-esque" response.
The guy's not exactly a household name (just ask my mom her opinion of him and enjoy the blank stare with which she answers), but enough people have seen The
Transporter and The Italian Job to know that he kicks rump cheek in major proportions.
Well, it's high time we flash back to 1970, the Caribbean, and listen to an English dude who sounds exactly like John Cleese. We're informed right away that this is a little
ditty about owed money, blackmail, and compromising photos. "High stakes treason" would have made a nice touch, but alas, the producers decided that was not a subject they felt
should be broached.
The film's main drawback is that it doesn't exactly inject the nitrous oxide and pop this baby in high heist gear at the starting line. Nope, it instead spends an ominously
gratuitous amount of time showcasing strip clubs and topless tryst girls. Why? So all the 18-year-old Statham fanboys will tell their friends "it's got boobies." Good job,
Hollywood. Reach for those artistic heights. I understand that the eventual theft of the compromising photos plays an integral part of the plot, but can't you just tell us
the contents? Or maybe give us pictures that present the general idea? Call me overly hetero, but I hope and pray that a 60-something year old man in pink panties is a
frightening visual my eyes are never subjected to again.
Thankfully, the film moves beyond all this filler and gets to the nitty gritty of the heist. And let me tell you, it's more gritty than it is nitty. The Italian Job
this is not. Via films such as Ocean's 11 and the one I just mentioned, Hollywood has followed a recent trend of depicting bank robberies as adorable and comedic.
The thieves look like Mark Wahlberg and Brad Pitt and exude charm and wit. Well, a couple of thieves in The Bank Job look more like hobbits and exude nothing but
blood and high-pitched squeals after they're caught and tortured. Much like Hillary Clinton in a pantsuit, it's not pretty.
Once the film's foot is planted solidly in the meat of its story, it delivers quite the intense and interesting ride. Near misses abound as the gang tries to avoid suspicion.
And after the heist has been completed, the tension is raised another level once they're forced to evade some very unsavory characters who will go to any lengths necessary
to retrieve certain items that were stolen from the safety deposit boxes.
If you like your bank robbery films fluffy and satiated with lighthearted comic relief then The Bank Job is definitely not what you're looking for. However, if you
enjoy the inclusion of darker, uglier elements then this fictionalized account of the 1971 Lloyds Bank robbery will keep you entertained.
And hey, any film that uses the word "skullduggery" gets bonus points in my book. If only it had included "slapdashery" as well. What could have been...
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ODDS & ENDS
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- Just how faithful is the movie to the real story? Read on...
- Dubbed the 'Walkie-Talkie Robbery' by newspapers, the crime was discovered by an amateur radio 'ham', Robert Rowlands, who alerted Scotland Yard after overhearing a robbery
in progress somewhere within a 10-mile radius of Central London. Seven hundred and fifty banks in the inner London area were checked that weekend, but there were no signs of
forced entry anywhere. It was only when Lloyd's Bank, on the corner of Baker Street and Marylebone Road, opened for business on Monday that hundreds of safety deposit boxes
in the main vault were found to have been looted.
- The robbery left countless questions unanswered. After only four days of reportage by newspapers, the story disappeared entirely, the result of an alleged 'D Notice'
issued by the government. Only four men were convicted in connection with the crime and much of the loot was never recovered. Of the stolen property that the police did
manage to retrieve, most was never reclaimed - a testament to just how many incriminating secrets are buried in the vaults of banks.
- The character of Michael X was a real-life con-man and gangster who tried to assume leadership of the black power movement in London. "Michael X began to believe his own
myth," says Peter de Jersey, the actor who portrays him. "While he was in Trinidad he was asked the question, 'Are you a Socialist?' And he said, 'No, think more along the
lines of Napoleon and Hitler.'"
- Aside from Michael X, screenwriters La Frenais and Clement had to piece together disparate bits of research in order to create the cast of characters. "We had to invent
them, based on the fact that there were so many guys involved, working in so many different businesses," explains La Frenais. "No one in Terry's crew was an experienced
professional criminal. They were pretty small-time players."
"We were told that 'Terry' was involved in the slightly dodgy used car trade," adds Clement. "And we found out that 'Kevin' - these are not their real names - was a
photographer, a sort of would-be David Bailey, but not quite in that league. And clearly there was a woman involved, because all the police reports say they heard a female
voice down there. So we invented Martine. Lew Vogel was based on a real character who ran a sort of porn empire."
- Jason Statham was in The Italian Job with Charlize Theron who was in In the Valley of Elah with Josh Brolin who was in Hollow Man with Kevin
Bacon.
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MAMA'S APPROVAL
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Nope, not even close. "F" and "s" bombs are dropped at the rate of 20+ each, along with other salty profanities that you wouldn't (or shouldn't) use in front of your mama.
Since sexual scandals and strip clubs are involved in the early going, nude boobies and booties are seen. Violence isn't excessive but there are a few graphic moments.
Take your children to this and you should be slapped silly.
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TRAILER COMPARISON
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No big surprises.
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THE GIST
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My next to last paragraph in the review is so good and succinct that I'm gonna paraphrase it here:
If you like your bank robbery films fluffy and satiated with lighthearted comic relief then The Bank Job is definitely not what you're looking for. However, if you
enjoy the inclusion of darker, uglier elements then The Bank Job will keep you entertained. Is it worth $9.50? No. A matinee or future rental will do.
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