CS Weekly Archive > Weekend Read > 3/07/08

A Perfect Getaway

By peter clines

The Bank Job

Dick Clement & Ian Lafrenais

Ex-thug Terry (Jason Statham) and his old partner in crime, Martine (Saffron Burrows), have a nearly foolproof plan to rob the safety deposit vault of the Baker Street Bank. However, there's a bit more to this robbery than Terry knows. Or Martine knows. Or the people setting them up know. So when Terry and his friends manage to pull off the biggest heist in England's history, things quickly get very, very complicated. The Bank Job is based on the actual 1971 Baker Street Bank Robbery, a crime that was quickly silenced in the media and never solved. Screenwriters Ian La Frenais and Dick Clement (Across the Universe) stay loyal to what history there is and have filled in the missing gaps with their own deductions to create a slick, fun movie. The story makes a smooth transition from a traditional heist film to a gritty English crime drama in the third act, and the characters shift from scheming to excited to blind panic as they realize just how many people their success has set after them. A rousing and enjoyable quasi-historical film, The Bank Job stands as a great example of how knowing less of the hard facts can sometimes make far more of a movie.

The Bank Job
Lionsgate
Rated R; 110 min.

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Peter Clines has had a lifelong love affair with the movies. He grew up in New England, where he studied English literature and education, and now lives and writes somewhere in Southern California. If anyone knows exactly where, he would appreciate a few hints.

The Bank Job courtesy Lionsgate

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