I worked in banking for sixteen years when I was much younger so I've been in a strong room or two before. Never quite worked out why they had to be air-tight in the first place and I'm guessing panic buttons hadn't been thought of yet otherwise there wouldn't have been much of a film here. Not that I'm complaining as it's a pretty nifty one at that.
A low-budget crime thriller, it turns a routine bank robbery by three low-level criminals into a tense race against time due to the gang deciding to lock their two hostages, the stuffy, confirmed bachelor, bank manager, Colin Gordon and his pretty, level-headed female secretary Ann Blyth in the strong room after grabbing the loot, intending to alert the authorities to their rescue once they're in the clear. However, an unexpected and unfortunate twist of fate scuppers their plans and leaves the gang leader, the charismatic Derren Nesbitt, to decide whether or not to take the money and run or listen to his conscience and do the right thing by the innocent hostages.
Directed in a matter-of-fact style, with a noticeable lack of background incidental music to overdramatise an already fraught situation, the director achieves suspense and tension by cleverly cutting back and forth between the key scenes, contrasting the struggle to survive of the fast-fading pair inside the vault with the nervous, quarrelling remaining gang members and the methodical policing in the background.
Sure there are one or two questionable decisions made by the principals which if taken would have seen the film finish within fifteen minutes or so but once you grant this licence to the filmmaker, you can settle down to a gripping contemporary thriller, which ends genuinely surprisingly with a particularly memorable final image. I also like the way the film avoids the use of trite, obvious plot devices, like any hint of romance between the trapped pair.
Nesbitt and Gordon lead the cast well on opposite sides of the fence and Blyth too makes a good impression as young woman with all to live for, caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Strongly recommended by Quentin Tarantino in a recent podcast, while I may not be a fan of his own films, I have to at least on this occasion, praise his taste in movies.
A low-budget crime thriller, it turns a routine bank robbery by three low-level criminals into a tense race against time due to the gang deciding to lock their two hostages, the stuffy, confirmed bachelor, bank manager, Colin Gordon and his pretty, level-headed female secretary Ann Blyth in the strong room after grabbing the loot, intending to alert the authorities to their rescue once they're in the clear. However, an unexpected and unfortunate twist of fate scuppers their plans and leaves the gang leader, the charismatic Derren Nesbitt, to decide whether or not to take the money and run or listen to his conscience and do the right thing by the innocent hostages.
Directed in a matter-of-fact style, with a noticeable lack of background incidental music to overdramatise an already fraught situation, the director achieves suspense and tension by cleverly cutting back and forth between the key scenes, contrasting the struggle to survive of the fast-fading pair inside the vault with the nervous, quarrelling remaining gang members and the methodical policing in the background.
Sure there are one or two questionable decisions made by the principals which if taken would have seen the film finish within fifteen minutes or so but once you grant this licence to the filmmaker, you can settle down to a gripping contemporary thriller, which ends genuinely surprisingly with a particularly memorable final image. I also like the way the film avoids the use of trite, obvious plot devices, like any hint of romance between the trapped pair.
Nesbitt and Gordon lead the cast well on opposite sides of the fence and Blyth too makes a good impression as young woman with all to live for, caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Strongly recommended by Quentin Tarantino in a recent podcast, while I may not be a fan of his own films, I have to at least on this occasion, praise his taste in movies.