The Bank Job

Dir: Roger Donaldson (The World's Fastest Indian, The Recruit, Thirteen Days, Cocktail)
Cast: Jason Statham, Saffron Burrows, James Faulkner, Daniel Mays, Stephen Campbell Moore
UK, 2008

Seen: March 10, 2008 at Scotiabank

Reason to see: Out of the options for this weeks releases, it was the one I was most interested in.

It took me a while to settle into this film, as going into it all I knew was the cast and that it was a heist film. Usually heist films have a lot of glitz and glam (Heat, the Ocean's series or even The Good Thief), but The Bank Job is more of a personal tale and that is its strength. We come to know and care about the heist team as they feel like real people. I knew this was the case when I would think of the characters by their character name and not the name of the actor during the film. Speaking of acting I was impressed with the cast as a whole, especially Saffron Burrows and Daniel Mays as well as many of the supporting cast including Hattie Morahan, Michael Jibson and Georgia Taylor (Toyah from "Coronation Street"). The plot was much more involved than I would have imagined and I'll be the first to admit it will take me a few watches to get it all straight, but I find that par for the course with this kind of film and overall makes it a strong film. It was great to see a smart instead of blow-everything-to-smithereens heist film.

Warnings: Violence, torture

Shannon's Overall View:
I was on the fence about it initially, but now I'd say it is solid entertainment
I'd watch it again
I'd recommend it, especially to intellectual/action oriented film fans

19 minutes of preshow including 15 commercials (!!!!) and 5 previews: Shutter, Never Give In, Smart People, Forbidden Kingdom and The Midnight Meat Train

How can people be late to a film that has 19 minutes of preshow, I mean, really? Also there were some really late arrivals methinks it's likely due to March Break shenanigans.

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© Shannon Ridler, 2008