A cheerful, energetic, and completely entertaining movie,
The Bank Job follows some small-time hoods who think they've lucked into
a big-time opportunity when they learn a bank's security system will
be temporarily suspended--little suspecting that they're being manipulated
by government agents for their own ends. The result is that the movie
doubles its pleasures: While the robbery itself has the usual suspense
of a heist film, when the robbery is over the hoods find themselves being
hunted by the police, the government, and brutal criminal kingpins who
were storing dangerous information in a safety deposit box. The Bank
Job won't win any awards, but it's enormously fun. Director Roger Donaldson
(No Way Out, Species) propels the action along with vigor, editing zippily
with perfect clarity among multiple storylines and various colorful characters.
Jason Statham (Snatch, The Transporter), as the leader of the bank robbers,
successfully steps away from his usual bone-crunching roles to a more
human presence. The rest of the cast--including Saffron Burrows (Deep
Blue Sea), Keeley Hawes (Tipping the Velvet), David Suchet (Poirot),
and many faces familiar from British film and television--give their
characters the right degree of personality and flavor without getting
fussy or detracting from the headlong rush of the story. A little sex,
a lot of action, a sly sense of humor, and a twisty plot; if more movies
had these basic pleasures, the world would be a happier place. --Bret
Fetzer
Music composed by J Peter Robinson. |
