The Bank Job

There's an old saying: if you've seen one Jason Statham movie, you've seen them all. And a lot of truth there is to the adage too. I mean, he does play the same character in every movie - the cheeky cockney criminal who, despite being a criminal, we still like. Every time. Each of his movies can be quite concisely described as being a Jason Statham movie. That tells me all I need to know.

Don't get me wrong - many of his films are highly entertaining watches, it's just you don't expect much diversity. And The Bank Job is no different. Apparently based on a true story, the film concerns the robbery of Lloyds Bank on Baker Street in London in 1971. The thieves, of which Statham plays the leader, have been hired (covertly) by MI5 to break into the bank to steal the contents of a particular safe deposit box. They are unaware, however, that the contents of the box are sexually revealing a British royal (supposedly Princess Margaret) that are being used by a London criminal who styles himself after Malcolm X to blackmail his way out of a conviction for kidnapping and extortion.

This is a pretty decent Jason Statham film, but the fact that the first boobs appear on screen after approximately 3 seconds says a lot. This is a popcorn film - watch it, enjoy it, but you certainly won't feel full afterwards. The romance between Statham and Martine (Saffron Burrows) is clumsy at best, but there are otherwise quite reasonable performances all round. It has its share of comedy, and equally its share of nasty bits, but nothing too far in either spectrum.

This isn't going to change the face of cinema forever, but there are worse ways to spend two hours. B-.

1 comment:

RikerDonegal said...

Actually, I haven't yet seen "one Jason Statham movie" and I still feel like I've seen them all :)

I'm not sure if it's the reviews I've read, the word-of-mouth from friends, or the concise trailers but I feel like I know exactly what I've been missing. He basically makes the same movie over and over, right?

Not that there's anything wrong with that! In fact, I suspect I'll enjoy them (whenever I get around to watching them).