Product Description

A small-time crook takes on a bank heist when an old friend offers him an inside track to the vault. Along with his hastily assembled team of low-rung criminals Terry (Statham) finds himself deep into this real-life heist and quite suddenly the target of ruthless mobsters the police government officials at the highest level and even the royal family.System Requirements:Running Time: 110 minutesFormat: BLU-RAY DISC Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLERS UPC: 031398236146 Manufacturer No: 23614

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #65 in DVD
• Brand: LION'S GATE ENTERTAINMENT
• Released on: 2008-07-15
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 110 minutes

Amazon.com
A cheerful, energetic, and completely entertaining movie, The Bank Job follows some small-time hoods who think they've lucked into a big-time opportunity when they learn a bank's security system will be temporarily suspended--little suspecting that they're being manipulated by government agents for their own ends. The result is that the movie doubles its pleasures: While the robbery itself has the usual suspense of a heist film, when the robbery is over the hoods find themselves being hunted by the police, the government, and brutal criminal kingpins who were storing dangerous information in a safety deposit box. The Bank Job won't win any awards, but it's enormously fun. Director Roger Donaldson (No Way Out, Species) propels the action along with vigor, editing zippily with perfect clarity among multiple storylines and various colorful characters. Jason Statham (Snatch, The Transporter), as the leader of the bank robbers, successfully steps away from his usual bone-crunching roles to a more human presence. The rest of the cast--including Saffron Burrows (Deep Blue Sea), Keeley Hawes (Tipping the Velvet), David Suchet (Poirot), and many faces familiar from British film and television--give their characters the right degree of personality and flavor without getting fussy or detracting from the headlong rush of the story. A little sex, a lot of action, a sly sense of humor, and a twisty plot; if more movies had these basic pleasures, the world would be a happier place. --Bret Fetzer

Stills from Bank Job (click for larger image)

Customer Reviews

Not just another heist movie!
Once again, Jason Statham delivers another great action-oriented film. If you liked Lock, Stock, and two smoking barrels, then you will definitely like this movie. Heavy with english accents and wit, this movie delivers with an very interesting plot that also has some political ramifications. Just as we depend on modern technology to safeguard valuables, criminals depend on innovative methods to outwit them.

A fine way to spend an evening
The Bank Job is a heist movie. Heist films usually have three elements. First they are usually ensemble movies, (The Thomas Crown Affair being an obvious exception), the heist is a contest of wits and a race against time, and the protagonists look to be caught but in the end get away with the loot through some interesting plot twist.

This makes the antagonist exceptionally important. The antagonist must be a worthy opponent, but because a heist is basically robbery, this authority figure or competing criminal must lose and the audience needs to cheer their loss. Tough. Compared to a standard cop and robber story, a heist movie flips the audience sympathies to the bad guys.

Judged as a heist movie, The Bank Job deserves three stars. The biggest problem is that the story is loosely based on actual events. Not loosely enough because the storyline works too hard to bring the three elements together. (The gang actually takes a nap in the middle of the robbery.) Real life can be stranger than fiction, but not always more entertaining.

Judged as a drama, The Bank Job deserves four stars for a tight script, good acting, and interesting characters. American films shot abroad tend to chose picture postcard sites, but foreign films shot at home show the seamier side of their country. The Bank Job is a British film and it will never be confused with an American film shot in England. The feel and style of the movie is entirely British and part of its charm.

If you're a heist film aficionado, this may not be in your top 5, but if you like a well-crafted movie with a talented cast, you'll enjoy The Bank Job.
The Shut Mouth Society
The Shopkeeper

Boring
Within the first ten minutes of this move I felt that it could be a waste of 90 minutes of my life. I was right. Simply put, there are just better movies about bank robberies. Such as Inside Man, with Clive Owen and Denzel Washington. The Bank Job is very thin on plot and the development of the story line is slow and boring. In addition, there is not any real action scenes to speak of. Not in the traditional sense of blowing stuff up, cars chasing down the streets and fights, that is what keeps people entertained. This movie rocked me, to sleep that is and made me second guess what I was watching it in the first place.

Since this movie is partly based on a true story I hope that the real bank robbery that took place was a lot more fun and adventurous than watching this movie. Because overall there was absolutely nothing captivating about this movie.