The Bank Job [Blu-Ray]

By Clint Morris

For someone whose supposedly one of the world’s biggest rising film stars – not to mention, someone who gets paid a-lotta-pound per film – Jason Statham sure makes a load of shite. Yes, I loved “Transpoter” and its sequel too, but can anyone honestly say “Chaos”, “War”, “Crank”, “Revolver” and “Cellular” are good solid films? No, you can’t. I’ve held slices of cheese more solid.

Funnily enough, it’s taken an Australian, Ballarat-born Roger Donaldson (“Cocktail”, “The World’s Fastest Indian”), to give the former swimmer turned action hero his best film – well, since “Transporter 2”.

“The Bank Job”, though one of those films that takes about half-an-hour to grab your attention, is one of the smartest, funnest and most entertaining films Statham has done since his star rocketed as a consequence of working with Guy Ritchie. It isn’t an excellent film, by any means, but it’s also not the run-of-the-mill bores that “Chaos” and “War” were either. In some respects, it’s a sister film to Statham’s earlier work, “Snatch” and “Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels” – it’s of the same mould, though arguably less comical.

The film tells the true story of a robbery that happened 35 years ago where a bunch of hired guns, or in this case, hired bank robbers, are recruited to tunnel into the vault of the Baker Street Bank in London to – they’re told – steal some photographs.

Instead, Terry (Statham) and his crew discover much more than a few photographs of a government official in a bondage parlour. Suddenly, the men find themselves with some very precious stuff in their mitts – largely, some uncompromising pictures of Princess Margaret, and also, a journal naming every crooked cop in London.

It could’ve probably done with a bit more fleshing out of the characters, a tad more humour, and a bit more ‘punch’ up front, but for the most part, this “Italian Job”-esque caper is an engaging venture – even more so because it actually happened.

Blu-Ray Details and Extras

Excellent audio and video presentation (one of the better Blu-Ray transfers I’ve seen from Paramount of late, actually) accompany a swag of extras including deleted scenes, featurettes (one on the real life crime that inspired the movie) and commentary by director Roger Donaldson, actress Saffron Burrows, and composer J. Peter Robinson. The commentary isn’t super-engaging, but it is a worthwhile listen.