The Bank Job: Blast From the Past

It looks like the heist movies are making a comeback and a great example of this is The Bank Job starring Jason Statham.

The Bank Job is based on true events that happened at the Lloyd's Bank in London in September of 1971. The crime nabbed close to 10 million, making it the largest robbery in Great Britain.

The film is a slow burn at the beginning but gets moving when Terry Leather (Statham) is approached by femme fetal and former flame Martine Love (Saffron Burrows) with a lucrative offer. She outlines a heist that will take Leather and his ragtag band of thieves underground and into the safe deposit vault in Lloyd's Bank.

In addition to the robbery, the film also documents how the robbery was actually captured while in progress by ham radio operator Robert Rowlands and the inaction of the police.

The audience learns after the job that Martine lured Leather's gang into the heist in order to gain access to a safe deposit box with compromising photos of some high-ranking people in the government. She is nabbed for drugs at the beginning of the flick and the government uses her and Leather as pawns to get what they need. But Leather proves to be more than the government bargained for.

Also stored in the safe deposit boxes is the ledger of pornographer Lew Vogel (David Suchet) that outlines payments made to crooked cops and that's where things begin to go bad for the gang.

Known primarily for his action roles, Statham is able to dig into his character and show a side that we've not seen before. The pull between the job and his desire to keep his family safe, shows that his best is yet to come.

Final Cut: Call up your buddies, grab yourself some fish and chips, and pour yourself a pint of Guinness. The Bank Job is a heist flick that harkens back to the old school heist movies. This film will leave you gasping for air as you're cheering on Statham and his crew. A must see.

3 out of 4 stars