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The Bank Job
Director : Roger Donaldson
stars - Jason Statham, Saffron Burrows and most British tv actors
Courtesy of Showcase cinemas a free viewing of The Bank Job released on Friday here and next month in the US although I dunno how big a release it'll be.
If I tell you that this film is written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais and you recognise the names straightaway then you'll know exactly what this film is going to be like. Those guys wrote some of the best and most beloved of British tv comedies starting in the 1960s with The Likely Lads, then Porridge in the 70s and into the 80s and beyond with Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and much more tv work and film screenplays (including The Commitments).
and so here we have the story of a bank heist carried out by small time criminals well out of their league. They're sucked in by a plan to make them money when they're really being set up to recover certain compromising photos from a safety deposit box in the vault. As Terry (Statham) slowly realises what's going on and what they have in their swagbags, things start to get a little twisted.
Supposedly based on a true story, but as always 'based on' gives that frisson of reality that film makers love to dangle in front of their audiences. How much is true and how much is embroidery is something we'll not be able to discover as apparently the whole fiasco came under a Government D-Notice,well hmmm...But anyway, there are some real life figures in there such as Michael X who I remember as someone who filled the pages of the News of The World for weeks, so maybe there is some sordid truths being covered up. We all love a little conspiracy huh?
Being written by Clement and La Frenais guarantees some comedy, but the film does have it's violent moments and probably suffers a bit from not quite handling that shift between light and dark - it's a little clunky in that respect.
It's all a bit larger than life, a bit tv-ish. You keep on seeing these people that've been admitted to Casualty with appendicitis or been a baddie in Spooks or arrested in The Bill..except Jason Statham who's virtually downbeat after the hyper roles he's had recently . However it's a very British affair complete with Cabinet ministers photographed in bondage, posh birds, low life porn and bent coppers...all very reminiscent of the 1970s and the story is entertaining enough.
3.5/5
Director : Roger Donaldson
stars - Jason Statham, Saffron Burrows and most British tv actors
Courtesy of Showcase cinemas a free viewing of The Bank Job released on Friday here and next month in the US although I dunno how big a release it'll be.
If I tell you that this film is written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais and you recognise the names straightaway then you'll know exactly what this film is going to be like. Those guys wrote some of the best and most beloved of British tv comedies starting in the 1960s with The Likely Lads, then Porridge in the 70s and into the 80s and beyond with Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and much more tv work and film screenplays (including The Commitments).
and so here we have the story of a bank heist carried out by small time criminals well out of their league. They're sucked in by a plan to make them money when they're really being set up to recover certain compromising photos from a safety deposit box in the vault. As Terry (Statham) slowly realises what's going on and what they have in their swagbags, things start to get a little twisted.
Supposedly based on a true story, but as always 'based on' gives that frisson of reality that film makers love to dangle in front of their audiences. How much is true and how much is embroidery is something we'll not be able to discover as apparently the whole fiasco came under a Government D-Notice,well hmmm...But anyway, there are some real life figures in there such as Michael X who I remember as someone who filled the pages of the News of The World for weeks, so maybe there is some sordid truths being covered up. We all love a little conspiracy huh?
Being written by Clement and La Frenais guarantees some comedy, but the film does have it's violent moments and probably suffers a bit from not quite handling that shift between light and dark - it's a little clunky in that respect.
It's all a bit larger than life, a bit tv-ish. You keep on seeing these people that've been admitted to Casualty with appendicitis or been a baddie in Spooks or arrested in The Bill..except Jason Statham who's virtually downbeat after the hyper roles he's had recently . However it's a very British affair complete with Cabinet ministers photographed in bondage, posh birds, low life porn and bent coppers...all very reminiscent of the 1970s and the story is entertaining enough.
3.5/5