A "True Story" ...barely (The Bank Job (Blu-ray))

Member Name: martyfarty69

Product:	The Bank Job (Blu-ray)
Date:	18/03/09 (59 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well acted and shot, good writing and a good job capturing the 70's

Disadvantages: When you dig deep you can't use this as a factual representation

"Based on a True Story" That line sometimes automatically guarantee a large percentage of the movie going audience will perceive a movies content to be truth / gospel, some movies really are factual reproductions of real events ( JFK / Schindlers List ) but although this movie is indeed based around real events it's claims to be the "true story" are unsubstantiated, nevertheless more on that later.

Terry Leather ( Jason Statham ) is a car salesman who is running an unsuccessful business, he is also being chased by two debt collectors for money he owes, his friend's ex girlfriend and terry's childhood friend Martine ( Saffron Burrows ) offers Terry a chance to never worry about money again , a chance that involves a Bank Robbery in Baker Street, Terry is sceptical but Martine claims her source is strong and as such Terry gathers a bunch of friends together to help him with the heist.
Unknown to terry and the rest of the gang, Martine is actually using them to break into the bank on behalf of her sort of Boyfriend Tim Everett, an MI5 operative who has been ordered to retrieve the contents of a safe deposit box, contained deep in the vault of the Bank, The safe deposit box supposedly contains pictures held by notorious Black Militant Michael X ( Peter De Jersey ) of a member of the Royal Family ( Said to be Princess Margaret ) involved in a threesome.
Once the contents of the box are retrieved terry finds himself and his gang caught between local gangsters and the government each party could put Terrys life in danger .

The bank job is a good enough tale of a heist even if alot of the facts are unsubstantiated, a gand DID tunnel into a branch of Lloyds Bank on baker street in 1971, and they did rent a leather goods shop a couple of doors down from the bank from which to tunnel from, and a Ham Radio operator did indeed pick up the communication between the gang and their lookout ( the tapes were released to the public in the days following the heist ) and after 4 days of News coverage British Authorities issued a D-Notice ( a gagging request placed on the Press by the government ) in the interest of National Security, so suffice it to say the actual Bank Robbery back in the 70s is certainly something that has some mystery to it, but the filmmakers have no way of actually proving any of their story to be the "true events", so this movie remains an enjoyable heist story and nothing more.

Summary: Good british movie with a decent cast, worth watching for sure