First of all, when a movie says that it is "based on a true story" that means absolutely nothing. So why do so many reviews put so much stock in that? I can't believe so many reviewers thought this was such a clever heist movie.I hope that no one involved in this project pulled a muscle in their brain coming up with the title "The Bank Job." Instead of a walkie-talkie they may as well have communicated with their lookout with bullhorns. Worst radio security ever.They have to take a nap in the middle of the job? In any event, there was no reason to bring this up in the film. And then they swill champagne a bit later?FYI: If you garrote someone there's no need to put a plastic bag over their head.

Roger Donaldson's sharp, suspenseful, and very human crime drama, based on, apparently, a true story of what some minor criminals find in the safety deposit boxes in a small bank, delivers what is critical for a heist movie to succeed:1. Everyone is a real, flesh and scars human 2. Violence is usually threatened and almost never graphic 3. Decency and degeneracy can walk hand in hand 4. If the good guys win, it's going to be at a terrible costI just saw another Donaldson picture a few months ago, The November Man. Remember how I appreciated the line delivered by Pierce Brosnan to his protégé, something like, "You can either be a human or a taker of human life; you can't be both." The November Man was a more standardized action flick, but the moral choice Brosnan's trainee has to make sends the quality of the movie up 1/2 dozen notches right away.In The Bank Job, Donaldson is able to convey the vulnerability felt by many of the primary and secondary characters. There's real fear on the faces of the guys at MI-5 (or is it MI-6; I never know). Jason Statham (who turns in a darn-good performance here) is torn between benefiting his family or destroying it. I don't know all the other actors, but everyone of them, as I said before, is so real, so smart, craven and foolish. The heart and soul of The Bank Job is in its ability to convince the audience that what they are seeing is plausible, maybe even real. When an up-and-coming spook spots a young woman he sent on an undercover mission in the Caribbean, covered in a shallow grave, he doesn't act tough. He forces back his emotions, and then orders the local authorities to burn the bad guy's house to the ground. If this guy can hang on to his career, he's going to be a holy terror in the British Intelligence community. Except for the usual problem of deciphering Statham's thickened and mumbling accent, and the less-than-a-clear-mix musical soundtrack for 1971, I found nothing to complain about here. If you find The Bank Job at your library, in a bin at Wal-Mart, or on Netflix, I would suggest you drop everything for the evening to watch a fine piece of restrained film-making. One of the message boarders commented that, if this had been made in the US, what made it so good would have died almost instantly. How true.

This is one of Jason Statham's best films. When watching this film, you will really enjoy it. There was not a dull moment from start to finish. Staham is highly underrated and should be in the top ten of male actors. The fact that the movie was based on factual events makes it the more enjoyable. After watching this movie you will want to go back and follow his career movies and wonder why he has not received more credit for being such a great actor. Put this in your movies to watch at least once a year and you will really enjoy it each time. The British really know how to make moving pictures, in my opinion they really out rank the American ones, and I am an American.

Don't be fooled by 'The Bank Job' having Jason Statham as 'top billing.' If you've seen any of his films in recent years, you may think that this is just another 'kick-ass' kind of mindless film. Luckily, it's much better than that.It's about a gang of London bank robbers who get - unknowingly - recruited by MI5 to break into a bank and steal some photos which mustn't ever be made public. It's 'based on a true story,' by which I mean that there are definitely some facts on display here and the bits that aren't facts have been 'filled in' to make it a better story.However, I wouldn't dwell on how true every aspect is. If you did that you may not enjoy it. True or not, it's a twisty-turny kind of affair where you don't know what's coming next. It's almost like a Guy Richie film without Guy Richie having anything to do with it. Like 'Lock Stock' and 'Snatch' The Bank Job features multiple sets of dodgy characters whose lives are seemingly separate, until they're eventually brought together.The opening segment is a little slow, but stick with it. Whether you just like Guy Richie films, British films, gangster or heist films, there should be something to entertain most people here. Even if you don't like any of those genres, it also makes a damn good thriller, too.I don't know how true the story was, but, as the credits are rolling, even if you don't believe it happened just the way you've witnessed, it's the kind of story that you can't help but feel is quite capable of happening.http://thewrongtreemoviereviews.blogspot.co.uk/