Member of the British Royal Family has bisexual three-way while on vacation, shady man takes photographs of the act through an open window, bad man uses photos as leverage against the British government to clear him of some legal issues, British government hires a band of up-and-coming thieves to break into a bank vault in order to steal the photos before they get leaked to the press, thieves don’t really know the real reason behind the heist until it’s too late, and then all hell breaks loose. Sound like a great movie? It is. And, it just so happens to be a true story.
Jason Statham plays Terry Leather, small time thief turned bank robber extraordinaire. He’s running a crooked used-car shop, which was financed by some mafia-type people who’re looking for their money back. Terry’s desperate, and when the opportunity for some big-time loot comes along, he can’t pass it up.
What’s interesting is that this isn’t your standard cookie-cutter-cops-and-robbers-bank-heist movie. Statham’s character isn’t some one-dimensional twit looking for an easy break and some quick cash, but a family man with flaws only looking to do right by his family. Enter a motley crew of other characters, including crooked cops, fetish-fuelled politicians, a wannabe Malcolm X with effed-up morals, a sultry seductress with a dark past and mysterious intentions, and throw in a porn king with an axe to grind, and you’ve got yourself an hour and fifty minutes of your life that you’d gladly give away a hundred times over. You never fully know whose side anyone is on, and the twists will have you guessing the ending right until the credits roll.
This movie is full of everything you need for a mindless escape from reality: nudie shots galore, gun fights, torture scenes, back-stabbing, murder, blackmail, stealing, cursing, fighting, breaking, and, to top it all off, some truly funny moments as well.
These kinds of movies seem to be Statham’s niche: The Transporter, The Italian Job, Transporter 2, Crank, War, and the upcoming Transporter 3, Crank 2, and The Brazilian Job. I’d be really interested to see if he is a good actor outside these high-octane sorts of films, you know? In The Bank Job, he strikes on some serious moments that hint at the possibility of something more, and I’m curious to see what he’s capable of.
Definitely worth a see.
Score: a solid 8/10.
