Poll Position: The Bank Job (2008)

Excuse my creative choice for the poster for The Bank Job. I just really liked the look of the Japanese poster! It has a look to it that really places it in the 70s time period that the movie is supposed to be in. Anyways, clearly it was The Bank Job that won our Jason Statham movie poll. It wasn't an easy poll to put together since we've seen so many of his movies already so we threw together a bunch of his seemingly smaller roles. The Bank Job, if you can't guess, is about Terry and his crew of amateur crooks who are tipped off on the possibility of a huge bank job. It really shows you how creative they were with the title. Hit the jump as I dig into this film and see if I can't find some gold!


With the title being so basic, it seems to imply a pretty basic plot, but it gets pretty complicated once all the interested parties get involved. I hope I'm not spoiling anything, but they succeed in breaking into the bank. The movie really kicks off though as they try to get away with all the stuff they've taken from the safety deposit boxes. They stumble upon quite a lot of sensitive documents which gets the police, the crooked police, the local criminal element, and even MI6 all after them, all wanting the same things in a huge tangled web of political scandal and corruption. So the real story is how the hell do they get out of it all.

So you've gotten into a bank vault. What do you do now?

Of the cast, I obviously expected standard Jason Statham fare from Jason Statham, and that's exactly what he delivered. While I can't really be disappointed in getting exactly what I expected of him, it's not like that's terribly great or wondrous. He's known for being a cold character, very dry and serious. That's what you get here too, and it works for the most part, except when we're supposed to believe he's a loving warm husband and father looking out for his family. I quite liked his co-star Saffron Burrows who plays the lovely Martine Love. She's a looker for sure, and completes the love triangle as she tries to steal Terry (Statham) away from his family life for herself. The chemistry between the two seemed pretty good, although I could point out that there really aren't that many scenes between the two to build it up all that much beyond the basics.

Terry and Martine get a little close

Another thing that I didn't really expect was the copious amount of bare breasts in this film, but then it fit nicely with the feeling of being in the 70s. At least they seems to be situation appropriate. Meaning, they only pop up in some brothel scenes and love scenes. You won't see anything with any of the main characters though. So don't think you'll get to go into this and end up with an eye-full of Saffron. Unfortunate, I know.

This was certainly better than a lot of movies I've seen in the past, but it wasn't the greatest either. I did like the chaos and confusion created by all the various groups after the loot they get from the vault though. And did I mention that Saffron Burrows is gorgeous? Not sure if I did. So it also has that shallow endorsement from me as well. I wish the cinematography took better advantage of location though, showing more wide city shots and whatnot. Unfortunately it's shot pretty close in for almost all scenes. The one last thing I'll warn you about this movie is that while Jason Statham is known for kicking a lot of ass, there's barely any of that in this movie save for one VERY short scene. This just isn't that kind of movie, so don't go in expecting it. Otherwise, give it a shot. I know I've made a lot of complaints, but most of them are nitpicks that can probably be ignored or won't even be noticed so just go in and enjoy a decent crime film.