Cynical Cinema

I never thought I would again see this day.  I had begun to rely on Jason Statham!  In fact, he had become the most consistent, and reliable, purveyor of garbage this side of Steven Seagal!  Not that I am comparing Statham’s acting skills to Seagal’s.  Statham can act circles around Seagal, and by that I mean he is capable of facial expressions.  In fact, Statham is a decent enough actor - he has the sort of macho charisma that characterizes some solid B-movie actors.  Bruce Campbell, or Ray Liotta in his early years.  But more than anything, he has been a sort of second-rate Bruce Willis, and his career has mirrored Willis’ in a lot of ways.  After what some (including me) would call his breakthrough role in the excellent movie Snatch, (his Die Hard), he has acted in thirty-one movies each year, and they have all been weak at best.

I know, I know, The Italian Job was pretty good.  But that wasn’t his movie, it was Mark Wahlberg’s.  So let’s examine Staham’s output since Snatch and Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. 

Turn It Up:  This starred rappers Pras and Ja Rule.  Yep.
John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars:  This starred rapper Ice Cube.  And Natasha Henstridge.  And it was STILL awful.
Mean Machine:  A British version of The Longest Yard.  Starring Vinne Jones, a tougher, uglier version of Statham.
The One:  One of Jet Li’s worst movies.  But at least it had Jet Li.
The Transporter:  An absolutely bonkers, idiotic high-octane action flick.  Statham’s first real starring role.
Cellular:  Kim Basinger thriller.  Involving cell phones.
London:  One of Jessica Biel’s worst movies.  Which makes it pretty darn awful.
Revolver (4/10):  Stars rapper Andre 2000.  And Ray Liotta, the Statham-before-Statham.  Big twist ending!
Transporter 2:  Even worse than the first.
Chaos (4/10):  A mess of a movie that thinks it’s way smarter than it is.  But it DOES involve a big twist ending!
Crank:  A guilty pleasure.  It really is a terrible movie, but it’s a LOT of fun.
War (5/10):  Teams Statham with Jet Li again.  Better than The One, but that’s not saying much.  Big twist ending!
In The Name of the King:  A Dungeon Siege Tale (2/10):  Uwe Boll, perhaps the worst director alive, makes his worst movie.  And it stars Jason Statham as a farmer who happens to know kung-fu!

And now, we get The Bank Job.  I’m expecting a low-rent Italian Job, with less acting, less planning, and more explosions.  And then - halfway through, I am realizing that I’m actually into this!  This movie is really, really good!  Saffron Burrows (who for some reason doesn’t get billing here at all - in fact, only Statham is billed at all - which may be why this one flew under the radar) is a femme fatale who gets into trouble at customs in Britain.  MI-5, or MI-6, or some big, shadowy agency in Britain, recruits her to rob a bank.  They need to recover some compromising photos of the princess, photos that are being held by a major underworld figure in London.  The government can’t touch this bad guy until they take the photos away from him, and they are in his safe deposit box at this bank.  But there can’t be a trail back to the government, so they recruit Burrows to build a gang and rob the bank on their behalf.

She goes after Statham first.  He’s kind of an old flame, and he used to be a crook, but he’s now a small-time car dealer trying to go straight and having a tough time.  He in turn recruits a few of his crook friends that he trusts, and they plan the robbery.  This involves drilling under the ground and directly into the bank vault.  Every character in the film is interesting and well-written, the script is very smart, and everything about this heist film rings true.  And it should - this is based on a true story, and this whole thing really did happen in 1971.  Roger Donaldson has done a marvelous job directing the movie, and although the ending is intense and fairly complex, it isn’t one of those obnoxious BIG TWISTS that have come to define Statham movies of late.  The Bank Job is a remarkable movie.

The one complaint I have is that the characters keep referring to anyone involved in criminal activity as a “villain”.  Like, “I know most of the villains in London”.  Which I guess must be some sort of British slang, but it’s a little disconcerting.  Other than that, the movie is close to flawless.  I really hope this signals a new phase in Statham’s career, because I do like him.  After all, Bruce Wilis followed up on Die Hard with Look Who’s Talking, The Bonfire of the Vanities, and Hudson Hawk before he became cool again.  But I do see that Statham is about to hit the big screen again with The Transporter III…