The Bank Job (2008)

I chose this almost at random from my list, not knowing much about it. Obviously a heist flick, and the only actor's name I recognized offhand was Jason Statham. Well, I liked Snatch. Of course, this was bound to be a bit less ludicrous, since it claimed a basis in fact.

In 1971, Terry (Statham) and his petty criminal associates learn from his seductive friend, Martine (Saffron Burrows), of a rare opportunity to rob a London bank by stealth rather than threat of violence. They dig into a basement vault and raid the safety deposit boxes, the contents of which the owners tend to keep secret even afterward. Only in the vault does the gang discover that Martine isn't in this for general wealth; she has in mind a certain box with incriminating evidence. They soon realize that the police are not their biggest concern....

Indeed, multiple parties you wouldn't want as enemies take the robbery quite seriously. One is crime lord Lew Vogel (David Suchet), who happens to have worked with one of the robbers. Another is Michael X (Peter de Jersey), who fashions himself as the Trinidadian Malcolm X but turns out more thuggish than that. From Terry's perspective, it doesn't help that he's been trying to hide his doings from his wife and kids. The plot gets relatively complex for such a simple start.

Don't take this as a reliable lesson on the actual Baker Street heist. Martine and Lew were made up, for starters. There are quite a few anachronisms and other errors, tho they have no bearing on the story per se, unless you count the carelessness of doing nothing to prevent fingerprints.

While we do get some amusing lines as typical for such British fare, you wouldn't call this a partial comedy like Snatch. Not even dark comedy like In Bruges. On the plus side, the ending is less unhappy overall.

My main warning is that there is a lot more erotic content than the premise called for. It's one thing to have scandalous photos for blackmail; it's another to have the crooks discussing their plans in a strip joint and Lew being a porn producer, which is how he knew the one guy. You might appreciate gratuitousness, but it's not my idea of a turn-on in context. And again, there's only so much humor to be found in it.

For all the gawkiness, TBJ wound up feeling pretty smart to me. I tentatively give it my seal of approval.