ONE HARSH CRITIC: The Bank Job

The Bank Job: A Review

This is a fun movie. Bottom line.  It's no cinematic masterpiece.  The story has wholes and patches of underdevelopment. The acting is on par for an "action bank heist" type movie (which less face it, is normally less than desirable). But, The Bank Job is well worth watching for one simple reason... Its fun.

Loosely based on actual events, The Bank Job is the story of Terry Leather (Jason Statham), a man who just wants to get a head in life, but can't seem to catch a break.  Whether that's his fault or not, is unclear, but as he's constantly hounded by two bagmen for money owed a bookie, less face it, Terry has probably not made all the right decisions in life.  He does however have a beautiful wife (Keeley Hawes) and two children. When he's presented with an opportunity to get out of his mundane existence by an old childhood friend, he takes it.  There are only two problems - the old high school friend is the gorgeous Martine Love (Saffron Burrows), and the opportunity involved robbing a bank.

Terry assembles a team of misfits and comedy, as they say... ensues. But through comedic moments the plot thickens.  Robbing the bank is a guise to recover some sexually explicit photos involving British royalty. A Malcolm X like radical is using said photos to blackmail the British courts, and basically is allowed to do whatever he pleases.  Martine is only involved to recover these photos and return them to MI-5 in order to clear her own drug record, and quite possibly leave Terry and his team swinging in the wind.

During the robbery, the team uncovers a book of payoffs made by smut peddler Lew Vogel (David Suchet), and he wants it back - not to mention the corrupt members of the police force he's been bribing.  The film becomes a game of cat and mouse, bait and switch and sort of hard to figure out how anyone can possibly win. And in the end...

Got it?

Like I said, it's a fun movie. Statham is good as ever as he plays the tough action hero.  One problem here... there's not much action. Its looks like his typical role, but the film is light on stunts and effects, and that's not a bad thing. Statham gets more of an opportunity to act, but less opportunity to amaze us with car chases, building falls and explosions.

One major problem is the relationship between Terry and Martine. There's an obvious connection, and the mention of opportunity lost, but the relationship is grossly underdeveloped.  Will they hook up? Have they before? Do we want them to? Well, Ms. Burrows is unbelievably attractive, so here's hoping, but there's no fruition to the question. One onscreen kiss is supposed to suffice for a relationship, past, present and future, and it just doesn't work. 

On a similar note, Terry has a family. Based on what made this cut, it looks like he's a deadbeat with an amazing family who's stood by him for no reason. Why do they even like him? With the exception of my conservative morals, there's no real reason for the audience to even want them to stay together. She's barely in the film, and the ending (without giving it away) suggests a major decision between the two women.  It just doesn't play. 

But forget about those minor details. This plot isn't even full of twists and turns, but its got so much "who's going to do what to whom", a mind is constantly busy trying to figure out how Terry's going to, not only get out of this, but alive.

I say skip most movies.  To some I say definitely go right now and see them. For this one, I'll say this: See it. See it on the big screen, or on DVD. I don't think the movie house adds much to this one.  Just wait until you want to have some fun, and check out The Bank Job.

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Josh Gloer, Movie Correspondent

You can find Josh's column One Harsh Critic, published every other Sunday. Tuesday, Wednesday... (who can tell) night at http://oneharshcritic.gather.com/.

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