The Bank Job

Year 2, Day 209 - 7/28/10 - Movie #575

BEFORE: Sticking with the bank robbery theme - reminds me of all the money I counted up during Comic-Con...

THE PLOT: In September 1971, thieves tunneled into the vault of a bank in London's Baker Street and looted safe deposit boxes of cash and jewelry worth over three million pounds.

AFTER: A good and twisty plot, and it didn't waste too much of my time. But the plot was a bit confusing, with so many factions - similar to the structure of "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch", which also starred Jason Statham.

I've seen the concept of drilling or tunneling into a bank many times, but in this case the crew robbing the bank is interested in safe deposit boxes - a smart move, since so many of the bank's customers are storing very personal items there...ones that they wouldn't even want to report as stolen.

I wasn't sure that I'd followed the plot very well, since there are so many items found in the safe deposit boxes - money, jewels, incriminating photos, OTHER incriminating photos, and a ledger of payouts to corrupt cops. It's not smart to rob a bank and end up with a number of items that other people are willing to get back at any cost.

Supposedly based on a true story, the 1971 robbery of a bank on Baker Street in London - but since most people wouldn't have wanted to reveal the contents of their safe-deposit boxes, I'm assuming that those details have been manufactured for the film. There's a real fondness for the simpler time known as the 1970's displayed here (how quaint, no one has a cell phone...), but I'm sure there are some anachronisms.

Bottom line, it's not bad for a movie with no discernable stars, except for Jason Statham - and he doesn't really count to me, since I haven't seen "Crank" or the "Transporter" series. It's proof you can still make a good twisty thriller on the cheap.

RATING: 6 out of 10 walkie-talkies