The Bank Job (2008)

Director:

Roger Donaldson

Writers (WGA):

Dick Clement (written by) &
Ian La Frenais (written by)

Release Date:

7 March 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

The true story of a heist gone wrong... in all the right ways.

Plot:

Martine offers Terry a lead on a foolproof bank hit on London's Baker Street. She targets a roomful of safe deposit boxes worth millions in cash and jewelry. But Terry and his crew don't realize the boxes also contain a treasure trove of dirty secrets - secrets that will thrust them into a deadly web of corruption and illicit scandal.

Plot Keywords:

Bank | Safe Deposit | Murder | Pornographer | Suffocation

Awards:

1 nomination

US TV Schedule:

Mon. Dec. 28

12:00 AM

SHOW

Cast

Jason Statham	...	Terry Leather
Saffron Burrows	...	Martine Love
Stephen Campbell Moore	...	Kevin Swain
Daniel Mays	...	Dave Shilling
James Faulkner	...	Guy Singer
Alki David	...	Bambas
Michael Jibson	...	Eddie Burton
Georgia Taylor	...	Ingrid Burton
Richard Lintern	...	Tim Everett
Peter Bowles	...	Miles Urquart
Alistair Petrie	...	Philip Lisle
Hattie Morahan	...	Gale Benson
Julian Lewis Jones	...	Snow
Andrew Brooke	...	Quinn
Rupert Frazer	...	Lord Drysdale

Also Known As:

Baker Street (UK) (working title)
D-Notice (UK) (working title)
The Bank Job (USA) (working title)
El gran golpe (Argentina) (Peru) [es]
Angielska robota (Poland) [pl]
Bank Job (Germany) [de]
Banka isi (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Braquage à l'anglaise (France) [fr]
Efeito Dominó (Brazil) [pt]
El robo del siglo (Panama) [es]
O Golpe de Baker Street (Portugal) [pt]
Pankkikeikka (Finland) [fi]
Pljacka (Croatia) [hr]
The bank job - To megalo kolpo (Greece) [el]

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Ireland:15A | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #43693) | Portugal:M/16 | Canada:13+ (Québec) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Ontario) | Finland:K-15 | Norway:15 | Malaysia:18PL (cut) | Singapore:R21 | Germany:12 | Brazil:16 | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Australia:MA | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R16 | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | Japan:PG-12 | Denmark:11 | Austria:16 | South Africa:16LV | Singapore:M18 (edited version) | Iceland:16 | Mexico:B15 | Peru:14

Filming Locations:

Aldwych Underground Station, Aldwych, Holborn, London, England, UK

Company:

Mosaic Media Group

Trivia:

Aldwych station was chosen to film the underground scenes because the true Tottenham Court Road station had been modified extensively in the early 1980s. Only Edgware Road still has any resemblance to its original look.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: A Revox B77 reel to reel tape recorder is used by the ham radio operator to record the walkie-talkie traffic of the bank robbers. While the movie is set in 1971, the B77 recorder was not released until 1978.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Eddie Burton: [while drilling a mileage meter back] Another Terry Leather low mileage here.

Movie Connections:

References "Pinky and Perky" (1957)

Soundtrack:

Allemande in G from English Suite

I'll Throw a Brick at You!

Sold to the American public as another D-level action pic staring Jason Statham, "The Bank Job" is actually a crafty British heist flick based on an incredible true story. The screenwriters deserve credit for creating a serviceable script with so many intertwining stories based on little actual evidence, conjecture, here-say, and conspiracy theories revolving around royal and political sex scandals, militant Caribbean drug lords, undercover MI5 agents, bumbling crooks, crooked cops, and double-crosses and cover-ups. It could've easily been a confusing mess, but providing the viewer pays attention, "The Bank Job" gets the job done as crackerjack entertainment.

Though aptly directed by veteran Roger Donaldson, the film does suffer from an overly salacious opening ten minutes designed to grab the audience's attention, some shoddy editing, and an intrusively bad action-style music score. There's also an attention to 1970's period detail in the dialogue and clothes that comes across as caricature and adds an accidentally humorous undertone to the otherwise cold-as-ice affair. However, the details of the "truth is stranger than fiction" tale and the fun had by the ensemble cast make for a breezy way to spend a few hours.

Donaldson also has an eye for the ladies. Led by a smashingly gorgeous Saffron Burrows (looking like a European version of Michelle Pfeiffer circa 1992), the powerful women depicted in "The Bank Job" are far more than just eye candy. Statham is also fairly good as the head of the bank robbing crew, and when he finally throws a brick at a guy near the end of the film, it will put a smile on any action fan's face.

Things get tidied up a bit too nicely in the end, where it seems only the really villainous characters have to face justice, but before the credits role, there are a series of real-life epilogued details plastered on the screen that make the viewer realize maybe this all really did happen. Now that's a jolly good show.