The Bank Job (2008)

Directed by Roger Donaldson. Starring Jason Statham, Saffron Burrows, Stephen Campbell Moore, Daniel Mays, Richard Lintern, Michael Jibson, Keeley Hawes, David Suchet, Peter de Jersey, James Faulkner, Alki David, Gerard Horan, Georgia Taylor, Peter Bowles, Craig Fairbrass, Don Gallagher, Colin Salmon, Hattie Morahan, Christopher Owen. [R]

Gritty, old-fashioned heist picture set in London during the early-70s, liberally inspired by a true story. Burrows recruits old friend Statham to assemble a crew of cronies, tunnel into a bank safe deposit vault, and abscond with millions in cash, jewelry, and other assorted goodies; what she’s after are the contents of one specific box—compromising photographs of a royal that are being used as blackmail by militant revolutionary Michael X (de Jersey). Brisk but complicated entertainment has so many moving parts that it’s not always easy to keep tabs on all the players, but the general strokes are clear enough to follow through. Its bleak turn in the third act sours some of the scintillating pleasures—which, in turn, injects cold reality into a caper that can’t support pesky nuisances like “truth” and “consequences”—but splashes of ice water are good for the circulation in this kind of crowded affair, a lark with real-world reverberations and threats instead of the usual “dodge the bobbies” escapism. Period flair and solid performances compensate for the expected story holes. The safe deposit guard who looks like Mick Jagger actually is Mick Jagger in a cameo.

73/100