While watching The Bank Job (2008) by Roger Donaldson I could not help thinking how much it felt like a Guy Ritchie's movie, the best that he did not direct. The Bank Job is fast, smart, and so well made that I can only agree with Richard Rupert of At the Movies with Ebert& Rupert, "The most entertaining heist movie I've seen in years". It is based on the true story of the Baker Street robbery that involved a robbery of the safe deposit boxes at a branch of Lloyds Bank on the corner of Baker Street and Marylebone Road, London, and the following political scandal that the content of some of the boxes might have caused. The robbers were never arrested, and the cash, jewelry and the documents were never recovered. I am not sure how much truth is in the film but it works fine recreating the atmosphere of the 1970s with its political corruption, sex scandals that link to the highest circles, and the police incompetence.
I mentioned Guy Ritchie above, and it seems that the colorful characters from the different layers of society that inhabited London in The Bank Job might have come directly from his early movies. The most decent and sympathetic turned to be the petty thieves led by Terry Leather (the role fits Jason Statham like a glove) while the owners of the stolen safe deposit boxes are mostly corrupt and despicable. Among them the members of the parliament who like to visit the fashionable London brothel, the leader of Black Power organization who keeps the compromising pictures of a member of British Royal Family in the coveted deposit box 118, and the porn-king of Soho (David Suchet) who makes the note of his every payment to the bent cops of London in the special book. Sushet, known to millions as a master of gray cells, the world famous Hercule Poirot, is here on the other side of the law. Perhaps, you won't remember this movie for its outstanding photography and spectacular scenery but as far as the level of entertainment and thrills goes, it is certainly a hit. And the big one.
I mentioned Guy Ritchie above, and it seems that the colorful characters from the different layers of society that inhabited London in The Bank Job might have come directly from his early movies. The most decent and sympathetic turned to be the petty thieves led by Terry Leather (the role fits Jason Statham like a glove) while the owners of the stolen safe deposit boxes are mostly corrupt and despicable. Among them the members of the parliament who like to visit the fashionable London brothel, the leader of Black Power organization who keeps the compromising pictures of a member of British Royal Family in the coveted deposit box 118, and the porn-king of Soho (David Suchet) who makes the note of his every payment to the bent cops of London in the special book. Sushet, known to millions as a master of gray cells, the world famous Hercule Poirot, is here on the other side of the law. Perhaps, you won't remember this movie for its outstanding photography and spectacular scenery but as far as the level of entertainment and thrills goes, it is certainly a hit. And the big one.