The Bank Job (Roger Donaldson, 2008): UK
Reviewed by Keith Chancey. Viewed at Camino Real Theaters, Santa Barbara
The Bank Job is the loosely based on true story bank robbery film that wasn’t really that necessary to make. Bank robberies should only be adapted to feature films once every several years and even then, only if they are unique in some sort of way, otherwise the story is some what repetitive and cliché. It has only been two years since Spike Lee’s Inside Man was released and if you are in the mood for a recently made bank robbery, I’d say Spike Lee’s latest would be the best bet.
“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 over three million pounds. None of it was recovered. Nobody was ever arrested. The robbery made headlines for a few days and then disappeared – the result of a ‘D’ Notice, gagging the press. This film reveals what was hidden for the first time. The story involves murder, corruption and a sex scandal with links to the Royal Family – a story in which the thieves were the most innocent people involved.”
That is the given synopsis on IMDB.com, which actually makes it sound quite a bit more interesting than it is. No real character development is given, so it’s hard to get interested in the story once things start going bad, which is odd because no real big events happen until further into the film. There was plenty of room to at least try to develop the characters a little bit more. The main character in the film, Terry, played by Jason Statham, was the only character that seemed to connect with the audience, but that may only be because Statham is the same person in every film he does or because he is a great action film actor who has needed to rob a bank for a while now.
When I first heard of this film, I was looking at the original movie poster (above) so I had hoped, since the film makers had made such a unique poster that maybe the film would have an interesting take on how it was filmed. This is not the case. I felt pretty let down once I realized that no real thought was put into camera angles, backgrounds or continuity of direction. Which isn’t all too surprising when looking at Michael Coulter‘s (cinematographer) resume, which includes mostly romantic comedies.
This film does deliver everything promised, as little as that may be. Though it is entertaining to watch if you don’t feel like thinking about anything or plan on text messaging some one a lot. Maybe this would be a good DVD rental in a few months. Another film that no one will remember in 5 years.
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