Crackling heist flick (The Bank Job (Blu-ray))

Member Name: shaneo632

Product:	The Bank Job (Blu-ray)
Date:	01/09/09 (3 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great cast and script

Disadvantages: None

note: also appears in part on The Student Room and Flixster

Jason Statham is most recognisable in his often brainless action films, such as The Transporter trilogy, and the two Crank films, but he's also made one more high-minded heist film - The Bank Job - a clever, well directed, and very well acted film that's considerably better than you might expect from a film with Statham's face emblazoned on the cover.

Terry Leather (Jason Statham) is a reformed criminal finally gone straight as a mechanic, but he is being hassled by debt collectors, when he is suddenly approached by Martine Love (Saffron Burrows), an acquaintance who offers him one final job that will ensure he never has to worry about a single debt ever again - the job is to, along with a group of wily criminals, rob a Lloyd's bank and make a clean getaway.

Terry accepts the job, but of course, things are never as easy as they seem, and the crew must contend not only with the hefty task of breaching the bank's vault (which involves them drilling into it through the underside of next door's Fried Chicken store), but also contending with a group of corrupt police officers who will go beyond the call of duty to bring them down, not for justice, but for their own greedy means.

Given the often staid state of British cinema, this is a breath of fresh air - a slick heist film that has a fair few nods to the likes of The Italian Job, whilst also having its own fresh identity, with a twisty plot that'll keep you guessing up until the close. Considering how generic a film I expected it to be, I was pleasantly surprised at how entertaining it was, and how quickly its run time passed by.

A slick, smart and well-crafted heist thriller which never lets up. The Bank Job does well never to adhere to cliches, and as far as British cinema goes, it is a welcome return to gritty, uncomprimising storytelling.

Summary: Winding thriller