PLOT: Martine offers Terry a lead on a foolproof bank hit on London's Baker Street. She targets a roomful of safe deposit boxes worth millions in cash and jewelry. But Terry and his crew don't realize the boxes also contain a treasure trove of dirty secrets - secrets that will thrust them into a deadly web of corruption and illicit scandal.

ANALAYSIS:
THE BANK JOB is a fun heist film. It mixes great characters with history. Jason Statham and Saffron Burrows shine in this film. The team of likeable crooks lead Statham are a likeable bunch. Jason Staham shows he can act and Saffron Burrows is always a pleasure to see in any film. It is interetsing to watch this true story about the theft of incrimating photos of a British princess being made. The character development pays off. The robebry leads to a very engrossing chain of events. The theft of material from the safety desposit boxes at the Lloyds Of London bank uncovers more than one thing (including incriminating photos of government types in a brothel and a ledger kept by a porn producer who lists all of the police pay offs). THE BANK JOB is sure to rent well on DVD and have a long life as it is discovered by more and more people. I enjoyed it as much as I did when I first saw it in theaters. The film holds up on multiple viewings.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
The 2-disc has a few extras that should have just been stuck on the one disc. I loved the extras. The 16 deleted and extended scenes (6:16 in total)- with optional commentary by Director Roger Donaldson, Actress Saffron Burrows, and Composer J. Peter Robison- show many scenes trimmed for pacing and an extended scene between Terry and Martine that got cut so people wouldn't hate Terry as much.

The feature audio commentary by Director Roger Donaldson, Actress Saffron Burrows, and Composer J. Peter Robison begins with how Saffron was cast and a little talk about Jason Statham as they make cracks about CRANK 2.

The original theatrical trailer and trailers for other Lionsgate films (three of Jason Statham films) round out the extra in addition to two featurettes that run over 15 minutes each.

INSIDE THE BANK JOB is the basic making-of featurette that covers getting good actors who can do the right accents, using this as a vahicle to show off Jason Statham in a film differenet from his usual action films, the production challenges (including filming a period picture in London), and shooting in High Def Digital Video.
THE BAKER STREET BANK RAID looks at the real bank heist the film is based on and closely follows for the most part. It is just as interesting as the movie iteself.

Also the two-disc has a the digital copy on disc 2 (I could care less about).

FINAL ANLYSIS: THE BANK JOB is one of the most entertaining films I have seen this year and is a sharp heist film that hopefully will do well on DVD. Remember to rent at Movie Gallery since at least some of the stores have the first disc of the two disc version for rental.

this DVD review is (c)7-16-2008 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com  


look for additional content at http://enterline-media.tripod.com  and http://enterlinemedia.livejournal.com