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From a financial point of view, it makes sense that
Lionsgate Films is promoting its latest, The
Bank Job, as another hyperkinetic
seizure-inducing Jason Statham actioner. After all, the actor has amassed a
loyal fanbase with such B-movie favorites as The
Transporter, Crank, and War, so touting this feature as just more of the same is a
no-brainer. Too bad this strategy will only end up disappointing most of
Statham’s fans and do a disservice to a fine heist film in the
process. As directed by Roger Donaldson (No Way Out, Thirteen Days), Job winds up more gripping and
fun than it has a right to be. Heist flicks are standard fare, but this
fact-based film proves the maxim that truth is often stranger, and more
compelling, than fiction. Statham is Terry, a car dealer in London circa 1971.
He has a past, but he’s doing his best to live a respectable,
straight life — until he’s approached by Martine (Saffron
Burrows), an old flame who’s caught wind of a job that can’t go
wrong. She proposes that Terry join a crew she’s assembled to hit
Lloyds Bank of London. Needless to say, there’s more to Martine, and
the job, than meets the eye. Using the old “tunnel in from an adjacent
building” plan, Terry and his mates pull off the deed and appear to
be on Easy Street, what with all the loot they’re about to make off
with. Trouble is, they’ve also stumbled upon pictures, diaries, and
other paraphernalia detailing dark secrets and nefarious deeds of the
British royal family, London’s upper crust, and other citizens with
ties to organized crime. The film, based on a caper known as “The
Walkie-Talkie Robbery,” shifts from slyly amusing to deadly serious
in a blink of an eye once Terry and his crew realize they’ll have
pornographers, blackmailers, and who knows who else on their tail once it
gets out that they’ve come into possession of so many dark secrets.
However, the sensational media coverage disappears seemingly overnight, and
it is suggested that the government stepped in and quashed the story for
fear of embarrassing so many well-connected people. Interestingly, the real
case was never solved. The script, by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, does
a nice job of capturing British class warfare, characterizing the theft as
an unplanned blow against elitism and hypocrisy that manages to bite its
working-class heroes in the arse. As the magnitude of the trouble
he’s in dawns on Terry, Statham shines. He can do fisticuffs in his
sleep, but here we’re reminded that he can be a charming and engaging
leading man who deserves far better scripts than the ones that have been
coming his way.
This article appears in Feb 28 – Mar 5, 2008.
