Review
This is widely regarded as Jason Statham’s best film; I’d have to agree in terms of acting and story. Anyone who doubts that Statham can act just needs to watch this and prepare to eat their words. It’s based on a true story of the 1971 Baker Street bank robbery which was hushed up at the time by of a Government gagging order. This is the real story of how one of the biggest robberies in British history took place.
Statham is fantastic as Terry Leather; an everyman who agrees to help (love interest) Martine (Saffron Burrows) rob a bank. She has always been crazy about him and is very much a temptress, despite the fact he is now married. He is not a hero in this and is a very flawed character. Terry is in dire financial straits and owes the wrong people money, so he reluctantly agrees even though he doesn’t trust Martine at all.
This is not the usual Statham vehicle so don’t expect a ton of action either. It has plenty of tension and moves along at a great pace though, so you won’t be bored.
The supporting cast are all excellent; Burrows oozes sex appeal and it’s understandable why Terry is attracted to her despite her not being a very nice person.
The costume design, sets and music all feel authentic and it’s like you’re back in the 70′s. There are plenty of twists and turns and you’ll probably have chewed through your finger nails with some of the tense scenes.
The direction is fantastic and the script feels real and believable. Admittedly, it’s not the sort of film you’d want to watch more than once as when you know the outcome, you won’t find it as tense.
Overall, The Bank Job is certainly one of Statham’s best movies with great performances, tension and authenticity. Highly recommended.
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Indeed I have, I bought it on blu ray as well. He’s action hero of the year for me. Great character and despite the movie’s flaws I still enjoyed the heck out of it purely because of Pearce.
that would be awesome! btw little off topic but have you seen Lockout yet? Guy Pearce needs to be in more action movies, especially as that character or similar ones I think!
Agreed! My personal favourite is Safe by a mile actually. It’s still one of my top films of the year. I’d lvoe to see Statham in a John McClane type role where he has bit more wise cracking and humour.
Nice review and I’ve heard many people call this his best movie and most underrated/underseen (though I think Safe may be pretty close in terms of being underrated/underseen). I remember seeing this one, or at least most of it, once a long while ago and do remember enjoying it but in terms of Statham flicks it wasn’t one of my favs, and not one of my favourite heist flicks either. Still I remember it being pretty well made like you said. Regardless of it not being an actioner (and me not really loving it) I would still like to see Statham branch out a bit more in terms of his roles… as long as it doesn’t mean giving up on the ass kicking roles! I just would be interested to see him in some different styles of roles, again even though I friggin love the ones he’s already in haha