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| The Bank Job | 
 enlarge | Director: Roger Donaldson
Actors: Jason Statham, Saffron Burrows, Stephen Campbell Moore, Daniel Mays, James Faulkner
Studio: Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.95
Buy Used: $4.92
You Save: $25.03 (84%)
New (55) Used (54) Collectible (1) from $4.92
Avg. Customer Rating:  69 reviews
Sales Rank: 1535
Format: Ac-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 111
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: LGED23610D
UPC: 031398236108
EAN: 0031398236108
ASIN: B0019EXZY4
Theatrical Release Date: 2008
Release Date: July 15, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: 70 includes original case. disc has light surface wear
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| Customer Reviews:
A Surprisingly Fresh Take On A Classic Heist Formula July 15, 2008
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
If you've seen any of Jason Statham's past films than you've effectively seen his newest DVD release: The Bank Job. More The Italian Job than Crank, though, The Bank Job is action packed, but it, too, is not simply a "shoot-em-up" popcorn flick; much thought goes into who the men and women on-screen are and what their motivations are for getting into the line of work that they do. Full of mind games (between characters and with the audience) and twists involving the sordid sexual histories of important government power players, The Bank Job is flashy and sensational in a way that screams Hollywood formula... and yet it was based on actual evens.
Directed by Roger Donaldson, The Bank Job attempts an intricate look at the elaborate layers of covert deceit that supposedly went into the United Kingdom's greatest bank robbery of all time. By all accounts, Statham's Terry Leather-- a man in over his head with some very bad people who gets hired to rob a safety deposit box and unknowingly stumbles onto some compromising photos of members of the royal family--should be a sexy character. He (partially just due to Statham's bright eyes and wry smile) is somehow soft and gentle (at least by comparisons to some of Statham's earlier work) as the family man who just got in over his head and is now forced into a new way of life. He flits between puppy dog eyes and suave masculinity, offering subtle hints of the rough and tumble bad guy persona for which women (and okay, a few men) everywhere have fallen.
The Bank Job tries desperately to be a cool and sexy film, and in most areas it does succeed. Donaldson and his Cinematographer, Michael Coulter, captured the essence of the 1970s with everything from shot design to color schemes to focusing on the wardrobe and scenery, all which screamed "period piece." In keeping with the thematic emphasis of showcasing new media and technology, The Bank Job was shot in HD, which gives its images a crisp, clear view of a somewhat hazy world: on one hand, Leather is a petty criminal, committing a serious offense, but on the other, he is taking down those far worse than he, and he is doing it for all the right reasons. Most importantly, though, The Bank Job makes the audience yearn to be apart of its world, even when its seedy: you want to live in that era, and you want to be in Leather's company.
The use of "cutting edge" technology in The Bank Job should also be something about which to get excited: deemed the "Walkie Talkie Robbery" of 1971, the star of the event is really the ham radio that picks up their own radio signals and clues in the police force. Unfortunately Donaldson does often choose to linger instead on the extremely literal depictions of what's sexy on screen: a topless woman swimming in the ocean, for example, which is an image that opens the film, as well as his female lead, Saffron Burrows, as the temptress who propositions Leather with the job offer. At times the film is a bit gratuitous. Though each crew member (from Stephen Campbell Moore to James Faulkner) has their own back story which manages to get semi-fleshed out, as a whole The Bank Job follow Leather's journey, and therefore his friends fall by the wayside a little bit, getting somewhat lost in the in the stereotypical traps of fictionalizing a real life drama into an action flick.
The two-disc version of The Bank Job on DVD includes a commentary by Donaldson, Burrows, and Composer J. Peter Robinson, which isn't half bad if you can get past the fact that the film's star is noticeably absent from the recording session. There are the obligatory deleted scenes, all which total out at under ten minutes and don't offer anything that isn't already depicted in the film in a more succinct way, making it pretty obvious why these were left on the proverbial cutting room floor. The standard behind-the-scenes featurette this time is "Inside The Bank Job," which is just as straight forward as it sounds but does offer some insight into the project past simple reminiscence or fluffy hype. However, "The Baker Street Bank Raid" is hands-down the most interesting "extra:" a featurette for those who are interested in true crime, in addition to cinema's depiction of such events, as it focuses on historical footage and interviews from the 1970s, cutting back and forth between the real life bank robbery and how it was depicted in the film. The only special feature on the second disc is a digital copy of the film, making the extra few dollars you will spend on that version entirely superfluous.
 When you open Pandora's box, you just never know what you'll find in it July 20, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
Set in the swinging London of 1971, "The Bank Job" is a riotously fun heist film that's loosely based on actual events. Known then as the "walkie-talkie bank job," it was the biggest bank robbery of its time and probably the most controversial. Apparently, the loot from this heist did not consist merely of cash and jewels, but some rather more important documents that could embarrass the royal family.
The heist is prompted, really, by the British government's inability to incarcerate a criminal slumlord and pimp, Michael Abdul Malik, known as Michael X (Peter De Jersey). A self-styled gadfly and pseudo-Black-Panther wannabe from Trinidad, he holds a get-out-of-jail card in the form of photographs he'd taken earlier of a Very Improper Personage (later to surface as Princess Margaret) in very compromising...uh...positions with lovers during an island escapade. These photos are kept in his safe deposit box at Lloyds Bank. Also in one of the boxes is a ledger kept by the smut king Lew Vogel (played by the versatile David Suchet), detailing payoffs to crooked cops, and another box kept by a `Madame,' the contents of which depict certain MPs in...uh...non-parliamentary scenarios. Evidently, everyone's been a naughty boy and girl.
Meanwhile, a former model with East End roots, Martine Love (Saffron Burrows), is aided by a her lover, an MI5 spook, in beating the rap for transporting drugs into the UK. In exchange, she has to call on her petty criminal friends to break into the Lloyd's Bank vault and retrieve the compromising photos of said VIP. Innocent of the true motive behind the heist, her friend Terry Leather (Jason Statham) agrees to the proposition, himself needing fast cash to pay off debts to some scary thugs. The crew consists of Terry, Martine, Terry's friends Kevin Swain (Stephen Campbell Moore), Dave Shilling (Daniel Mays), and Eddie Burton (Michael Jibson), and outside help in a Maj. Guy Singer (con artist extraordinaire), and Bambas (a tunneling expert). The plan is to take over the lease of a handbag store, Le Sac, and tunnel from its underground to the chicken take-out store adjacent to the bank, and finally into the bank's vault itself. (Their total loot was reportedly 4M.) Terry suspects that Martine is hiding something, and as things get even more complicated, the crew finds themselves chased by the MI5, the cops, and Vogel's henchmen, as well as engaging in a bargain brokered by Lord Mountbatten himself! (Absurdly hilarious, but who knows? Real life is stranger than fiction.)
Terrific acting all throughout, especially by Statham, and lots of twists and turns to keep things fresh. Swinging London was depicted extraordinarily well; production values were superb. A bit of comic dialogue and scenes in between ups the fun factor. One of the DVD extras which shows photos of the actual crime scene, especially the tunnel dug through Le Sac, were quite interesting. Comparing them to the film, the meticulous duplication of details was remarkable. The heist itself was audacious and entertaining, but it's the back-stories that bring real excitement into this. The actual heist is a true story but the damning photos are mere conjecture. A D-Notice (a sort of gag-the-press action) was issued at the time of the real events and it never surfaced as fact that the photos were indeed of Princess Margaret. She did have a party-girl image in the 1960s, and her exploits were fodder for the British rags. Michael X himself was hanged in Trinidad in 1975, but his file still remains closed until 2054. Though the robbery made the headlines, it quickly died down only after a few days. What was really behind all this? Well, that's left for the viewer to speculate. After all, that's part of the entertainment.
Fascinating Special Feature July 24, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
Among other features, the disc includes a mini-documentary, "The Baker Street Bank Raid", on the real life bank robbery. The documentary includes photos and audio (in the movie the crooks end up having their radio transmissions recorded by a ham radio operator) from the actual bank robbery. It's fascinating to see and hear details of the actual robbery in relation to the movie. A great movie with great special features makes this a Blu-Ray worth owning.
 Thin August 1, 2008
7 out of 17 found this review helpful
I was all hyped up to watch this movie. I read on some forum that I should go home and prepare to watch a fantastic movie. I bought the Blu-ray disc (BD) on Amazon and a couple of days later it arrived. Made dinner settled into my chair, fired up my 7.1 home theater and was unimpressed. I don't mind heavy British accents when the movie is good enough to put it aside.An example would be "The Full Monte" or Harry Potter, but this movie was lame. I don't care if it was based on a true story. The Great Escape was based on a true story and it was great. The execution of putting it down to film, the telling of the story if you will, was thin to say the least. The film maker attempts to peak your willingness to watch this flick with early on sexual scenes and with euro strip club, semi naked ladies in the backround as part of the area of operation. Did not work for me. The story doddles along until after a string of boring acts of implementation of the plan straining to come to a peak. It then turns to a semi who gets who first exercise, and then ends. Thank goodness. It is now one of my "I only watched it one time" BD's in my collection. For me it was a waste of money. The guy needed a shave too. You know how many Europeans have a particular odor when your standing next to them? This movie had the same smell.
 Not Enough Story to Support the Film August 14, 2008
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
This movie was not what I was expecting. I thought it would be a typical heist film with lots of tension, planning and some humor and action thrown in, like the Ocean's movies or "The Italian Job." Instead, it was slow. VERY, very slow.
The movie is "based" upon a true story. Which usually means a kernel of truth, and the rest is Hollywood. However, in this instance there wasn't enough truth, or enough Hollywood! Jason Statham plays Terry Leather, a slightly shady owner of a car shop, and loving family man. Saffron Burrows plays his former love interest Martine who talks him and a few of his chums into a bank robbery for safe deposit boxes. But, they are rank amateurs and only get away with it out of sheer dumb luck. This should have been a source of humor in the story, but the set-up and execution took so long, with no real activity, that I found myself thinking, "get on with it already!" Terry is slightly suspicious of Martine's motives, but can't pass up this chance. Unfortunately, half the film passes before they start tunneling to the bank, and there is no real planning during that time. In fact, the trailer does an excellent job of giving you the plan for the entire heist, heck the entire movie including the few punchlines, in under 3 minutes! The trailer makes the movie look action-packed. Only, ALL the action from the film is in that trailer - literally.
None of the main characters except Terry are developed at all; they remain two-dimensional to the end. This made it difficult to care about whether they lived or died, or even what their names were. Instead, the film spends a lot of time introducing the nefarious crook Michael X (wannabe be Malcolm) who is untouchable because he's got scandalous photos of a royal. That happen to be stored in a safe deposit box. Then we meet Vogle, porn king of London, who stores his ledger of pay offs in a safe deposit box. And the madam Sonja who stores compromising pictures of officials in a safe deposit box. Gee, I wonder what Martine is after? These villains are way over-the-top and almost ridiculously portrayed, but the rare instances of violence in the film are brutal and vividly real - reminding viewers that this heist really did occur, and people really did get murdered because of it. It did not mesh well. Nor did the gratuitous nudity that was peppered throughout the film. In a comedic action movie, that's fine. But, it was out of place here.
The movie did have some good points. The cinematography, costumes and sets really captured the look and feel of the 70's. The events of the true story, the greatest heist in British history, are very interesting (and would have made an awesome episode of Notorious, or other true crime tv show), and the last 20 minutes were excellent as the crew tangles with crooks, MI-5, the police, and each other. Everyone wants the photos, and everyone wants Terry and his crew dead. The film closes with an epilogue of sorts - words appear on the black screen giving further fallout of the case. This information was the best part of the film.
Since the official files on this case are still classified, there wasn't enough "fact" to flesh out the plot to support a full-length film. This could have been much better if Hollywood had taken more liberties to inject some excitement into it. I prefer Jason Statham in action roles like "Transporter," or "Crank," where he's kicking butt and stealing the show. He was wasted in this family man role and he had zero chemistry with Burrows. Overall, I'm glad I saw it but I should have passed on buying the DVD. I probably won't watch it again, especially since there are NO extras on the single disc edition. You get the film, set-up, trailer, and previews. That's it. How disappointing for a movie based on a true story.
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