61 - The Bank Job

    A group of small-time crooks get a tip about an insecure bank in London, where a criminal has some blackmail materials stashed in a deposit box.  Their robbery ties together the London prostitution scene, government employees, the royal family, and corrupt, and clean, local police.
    When I put this on my queue, I only knew a few things about it.  I knew it was a heist movie, and that Jason Statham was starring.  I assumed it would be a little more action-heavy.  I also wasn't expecting it to be especially great.  But it is.  It's actually a very good movie.
    The story is fascinating, even though it's a little off.  After reading up on the actual robbery, this is a bit more speculative than I would like.  But the way this story is structured is amazing.  The audience has no idea what's happening for a big chunk of the opening, even though we can follow individual scenes.  As things progress, we start to understand how everything fits together.
    This is another one of the powerful elements of this movie.  Once we understand the scope of the situation, we're identifying with the robbers, but we feel as helpless as they do.
    There isn't much action in this.  In fact, I think I would put one scene, very close to the end, as being an action scene.  But the rest of the movie is just a well-done heist movie.
    Let me specify that.  The heist only takes up about the first half of the movie.  The rest of the movie is about figuring out how to get out of the situation that the heist put them into.
    Solidly great movie.