Bank Job - 2 Smiles

Based on a true event that happened in London in 1971, “Bank Job” should not be such a chore to watch, but it is. There is minimal character development and, at times, a very muddied plot, which includes too many characters. “The Baker Street Bank Job” or “The Walkie-Talkie Robbery” made headlines until MI5 made a D notice request that censored further press coverage on the grounds that it created a danger to national security. So the real events surrounding the heist are speculative at best. Black activist Michael X (Peter de Jersey) has in his possession incriminating photos of Princess Margaret, which allows him to blackmail British authorities. MI5 is determined to retrieve these photos, but cannot do so openly. Enter ex-model Martine (Saffron Barrows) who talks her former boyfriend Terry (Jason Statham) into rounding up some of his buddies for an easy heist of several hundred safe deposit boxes in a Bond Street bank. While the heist is going down, Terry posts a lookout outside on a rooftop and a ham radio operator picks up their walkie-talkie conversation. Alerted, the police rush around London trying to find the bank that is being robbed. Terry and his friends are after as much money and jewels as they can grab, but Martine is after the contents in one specific box. To further complicate things, another safe deposit box yields pornographic photos of some of Britain’s political figures and a ledger listing bribes paid to various policemen. It’s too bad the director Roger Donaldson wasn’t able to create a more engaging story around the original source material. Instead he resorts to tossing in a large number of characters, nudity and an unnecessary torture scene. See “Bank Job” if you’re a Jason Statham fan (like I am). (3/7/08)