Friday, June 7, 2013

The Bank Job - Movie Review

A true story allegedly. The movie is based on a 1971 Baker street bank robbery where about 4 million was stolen from the bank's lockers and was never found. The movie sets up the actual bank robbery as it is and the conspiracy behind why the stolen goods was never found. And this is where it gets interesting, as the interests of three conflicting parties gets caught in a seemingly straightforward bank robbery.

Firstly, the bank robbery is initiated by MI5 which suspects that the black revolutionary leader Michael X has some compromising pictures of a royal family member which he is using to evade getting caught. MI5 zeroes down to a bank locker and initiates a staged bank robbery through a woman who is a petty criminal. Outwardly she is to lure a team of petty criminals into the big job and while pulling off the bank job, retrieve the photographs. She contacts her friend, one who has gone straight Terry (Jason Statham) and sells him the story of a bank job where she has some key information. Terry assumes its a straight bank job and gets his team together. Parallely we discover that the bank lockers also have photographs of some senior officials in compromising positions, ledgers of pay offs to policemen by a porn film maker and many such highly incriminating evidences. The interested parties - Terry and his gang, the MI5 and the porn king - are all stuck in the heist. But the job goes on smoothly.

Unfortunately the conversations between the bank robbers and their lookout are intercepted by an amateur HAM operator and the police is alerted while the job is in progress. Terry also starts doubting the girl's motives and her focus on one locker. When he sees the pictures of the royal family member that he finds in the locker, he is astounded. But he is smart enough to avoid the trap the MI5 sets for them once they get out. Once the robbery come to light several people go into hiding. The porn film maker starts sending his henchmen to get hold of his diary and the men who robbed him. In the process he tortures and kills one of Terry's men. Two others a killed by unknown people when they are on the run with the loot. Terry knows that he could get killed too and he uses all the material he has to secure his safe passage and the others in return for the photos. The money is not recovered - in fact much of it was never claimed. The robbers were not caught. The robbery died a quick death in the media raising suspicions that a gag order was issued by the government.

The Bank Job is a racy movie and it's even more interesting to know that it's based on a true story. The royal member in question is Princess Margaret. Good crime thriller to watch. Also the real stories that inspired the movie are pretty interesting too.

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