Lionsgate, Mosaic Media Group and Relativity Media present a R rated, based on a true story dramatic caper directed by Roger Donaldson and starring Jason Statham (Terry Leather), Saffron Burrows (Martine), Stephen Campbell Moore (Kevin), Daniel Mays (Dave), James Faulkner (Guy Singer), Alki David (Bambas), Michael Jibson (Eddie), Richard Lintern (Tim Everett), Don Gallagher (Gerald Pyke), David Suchet (Lew Vogel) with Peter De Jersey (Michael X), Rupert Frazer (Lord Drysdale), Keeley Hawes (Wendy Leather), Sharon Maughan (Sonia Bern), Hattie Morahan (Gale Benson), Alistair Petrie (Philip Lisle) and Colin Salmon (Hakim Jamal).
East London, 1971, Terry Leather, a family man with wife, Wendy, and two children runs a local car dealership. He strives to make a better life for his family so when a woman from his past, former beauty model Martine, comes along with an idea, Terry listens. She presents to him a foolproof idea to rob a local bank vault which harbors cash, diamonds and jewels. He soon reaches out to his allies in crime and they begin to develop a plan to tunnel under the Chicken Inn restaurant leading direct access to the floor of the vault. Little does Terry know that Martine has other motives along with a group of other players out to obtain some incriminating photos harbored in safety deposit box 118.
When the heist goes down and the local thieves led by Terry enter the vault they not only strike it rich to a sum of approximately 4 million pounds but also unleash Pandora's box. Soon into the heist Terry discovers Martine's plan to uncover sexual photos of the royal families Princess Margaret and Lord Drysdale taking part in some compromising positions at Sonia Bern's house of pleasures. Along the way also unearthing secrets of London's criminal underworld involved with crooked British authorities.
Conspiracy, deceit, lies, love, partnerships, trust, crime, quite a bit of T&A, infidelity and the schemes of several diverse characters all come into play in this heist as secrets begin to come to the surface, thanks to Terry and his group of merry thieves. Overall, this is one great 'Baker Street Bank Robbery' that goes wrong in all the right ways for some of the original players involved in this roller coaster ride straight to the bank. Albeit the whole idea of a safety deposit box is so people like bankers and thieves don't know what's in it. Once part of a robbery this being one of the main reasons why many people never claim their losses since the secrets revealed may lead to their ultimate end. Thankfully though amongst all the crime that exists within the walls of the British community there stands some honesty found in one good cop, Givens. In order to win any battle it seems lives will be lost whether good or bad, hopefully though leading to truth and justice in the end.
In the beginning of this caper there were so many characters being developed that it was a somewhat difficult to keep up with the story. Thankfully a bit towards the end the plot thickens, the chase is on, the fight scene kicks in, and the premise of the characters and the parts they portray in the heist of officials, royals, and commons is verbally and visually satisfying for the audience. Already a fan of Statham, I liked him in this role since he once again plays it with the right mix of good guy, bad guy, love him, hate him emotions and strength. Burrows was a pleasure to look at but seemed to lack a bit of those emotions needed to take command of her character and the dual roles she played against her supporting cast. The rest of the actors were like the fingers to each hand, all needed to grasp this intriguing yet somewhat over-done story line filled with some character roles that maybe would have been best left on the editing floor. Even though I enjoyed the film I felt I would not have missed out of a tale of British history had I not seen it in the theatre. Albeit I did enjoy the score and the writing was superb considering the amount of different sub-plots laced within the main plot that gives this film a climatic end. I can't see this crime caper pulling in a huge bundle at the box office but surely it will bring in enough to satisfy its own bank loan unless it gets robbed by lackluster word of mouth.
Reporting for Talkin' Pets, I'm Jon Patch.