A Decent Job

Today, I caught the new movie The Bank Job. Based on true events (though how faithfully, I couldn't say) and set in the early 1970s, it's the story of a bank robbery arranged by the British government to acquire compromising photos of a political figure from a safety deposit box.

There are lot of ways in which this film is a bit outside usual, current convention for this genre. And I have to say that in most cases, this brings both good and bad with it.

It stars Jason Statham, who we've come to expect (and enjoy) kicking ass in movies like The Transporter. His character is a bit more of a pushover in this film, only really getting into one real (and brief) fistfight in the movie. So, points to him for playing a somewhat different character than we've come to expect. But at the same time, a bit of a disappointment, if you were expected crazy fight chereography.

As I mentioned, it's set in the early 1970s. This means that the "bank job" of the title is decidedly low tech. When you stop and think about all the crazy tricks and technology that we've been conditioned to expect through Mission Impossibles, James Bond films, and the "Ocean's" trilogy, the heist movie genre has become more than a little ridiculous. It's rather refreshing and different to see something so base and simple. And yet, and the same time, it's definitely less exciting than those other movies. These crooks aren't particularly clever, don't have a particularly genius plan, and their crime isn't particularly suspenseful in execution.

The government intrigue and fallout surrounding the heist is an intriguing layer to the film that sets it apart from many other heist movies. The typical model is for the crime to be very personal, very contained. Even recent capers like Inside Man were still really just about "one man and the assistance he contracts to pull off his crime." So points here for a new dimension. And yet, the movie doesn't really make you care much what happens to any of the various government figures it parades by the audience; if anything, you'd almost rather see them screwed. Your investment is much more in the core characters pulling off the job, so screen time away from them starts to make you want to check your watch.

The Bank Job is really not a "bad" movie, though. It's just that, in trying to craft something different, it has perhaps unintentionally demonstrated a few examples of why these other methods have been avoided lately. I give it a B-. It's not for everybody, but I think there's a fair number of people out there who would find it at least decent.