Bank Job, The (Blu-ray)

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While the film proudly states that its plot is "Based on A True Story," the fact that the news reports regarding the original 1971 robbery were blocked for reasons of National Security led the scriptwriters to rely on a sincere amount of speculation. Micheal X's true involvement is unknown as his government files have been sealed since the incident. Thus, "The Bank Job" is yet another one of those movies that's kinda sorta almost based on true events that might have happened but probably didn't.

There isn't a standout moment in the entire 110-minute run time of "The Bank Job." The cinematography is completely average, there isn't a remarkable bit of acting occurring on screen, and the script is painfully by the numbers. Upon glancing at the resume for the duo that wrote "The Bank Job," this isn't entirely surprising given their biggest films to date rested on the shoulders of either the film's soundtrack "Across the Universe" or a familiar animation style "Flushed Away." The directing is as average as it gets. But who in their right mind was expecting to see a film with any sort of an original voice crafted by Roger Donaldson, the man who gave us "Cocktail," "Species," and "Dante's Peak"? The main tragedy of "The Bank Job" is the complete waste of Jason Statham, who was seemingly headed to the top tier of action stars with hits like "Crank," "Snatch," and "The Transporter." Given that his next four projects are all unwanted sequels or remakes, it seems as if Statham's star has already begun its decent back to earth and will inevitably crash in a field of bland direct-to-DVD action films.

I am by no means a fan of recent "flashy" action flicks like "Wanted," "Underworld" or "The Matrix." Yet "The Bank Job" was still too slow paced even for me. In a world overflowing with great heist movies, an effortless time waster like "The Bank Job" simply has no reason to exist. It will be quickly forgotten over the next three to five years, only to be remembered by the occasional airing on a lazy Sunday afternoon on TNT. Even then I'd rather sit through "Ocean's Thirteen" again before settling for the likes of "The Bank Job." And, no, I wasn't just saying that to be mean.... Okay, maybe just a little bit.

Tyler's film rating: 5/10

Video:
Some of you may remember that I am not terribly keen on digital photography, and the present filmmakers used Arriflex D-20 digital cameras to shoot "The Bank Job." Lionsgate use a 1080p MPEG-4/AVC video codec and a single-layer BD25 disc to reproduce the picture, capturing pretty much what I remember the film looking like from a movie theater, which wasn't necessarily good. The picture has a soft, flat, digital appearance to it, displaying a little less detail than traditional film photography might. The subdued colors and cushy delineation give the movie a suitably drab tone, which nicely complements the cheapness of the characters involved but doesn't exactly cry out for high definition. Not that the video quality is bad, and, of course, the screen is ultraclean, with little-to-no grain involved. Close-ups are best, with medium and long shots suffering the most from the somewhat hazy shooting.

Audio:
The soundtrack gets a full DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 treatment, even if most of the film contains little more than dialogue. Still, surround effects are welcome for environmental settings like bars, restaurants, train stations, and subway platforms. I found the musical accompaniment displaying a pleasant bloom in the rears, the overall audio well balanced, and dynamics strong. This is unspectacular but quite natural sound.

Audio note: Users bitstreaming DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 to certain receivers--Denon, Integra, Onkyo, and Yamaha, among others--for decoding have reported occasional loud pops during playback. DTS informed the receiver manufacturers of this issue, and they have resolved it in current models and are offering upgrades to older product. In addition, DTS provided studios with detailed instructions on how to reproduce DTS-HD MA 7.1 audio to avoid the problem, but apparently not all studios got the memo. I received two Blu-ray discs on the same day with DTS-HD MA 7.1 soundtracks: "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" from New Line and "The Bank Job" from Lionsgate. The "Harold & Kumar" audio played perfectly, but "The Bank Job" made a loud pop every time I took it out of "Pause." The work-around I used for "The Bank Job" was to put the receiver in "Mute" for a moment just before returning it from "Pause." Maybe Lionsgate had "The Bank Job" BD already completed before they could implement DTS's instructions, I don't know. Just a caution.

Extras:
Disc one contains a routine number of bonus items, all of them in standard definition, starting with a low-key audio commentary by director Roger Donaldson, actress Saffron Burrows, and composer J. Peter Robinson. Next, there are a pair of featurettes: "Inside the Bank Job" is a sixteen-minute behind-the-scenes segment and "The Baker Street Bank Raid" is a fifteen-minute summary of the real-life story, with actual crime-scene photos and comments from actual participants in the tale. Then, there is a series of brief deleted and extended scenes, lasting a total of about six minutes, with optional commentary.

The extras on disc one conclude with sixteen scene selections but no chapter insert; a widescreen theatrical trailer; bookmarks; English and French spoken languages; English and Spanish subtitles; and English captions for the hearing impaired.

Disc two contains a standard-definition digital copy of the feature film for use on Apple Macintosh or Windows PC DVD drives.

Parting Thoughts:
The refreshing thing about "The Bank Job" is that it isn't a conventional, flashy heist flick filled with elaborate schemes, exotic locales, and mastermind criminals. For that kind of thing you can find plenty of films like "Rififi," "Topkopi," "The Italian Job," "Inside Man," the "Oceans" series, or segments of "The Pink Panther," "Get Smart," and "National Treasure." Instead, "The Bank Job" concentrates on everyday hoods doing their best and just barely getting by. Not a great film, maybe, but a pretty nifty one in any case.

Final note: The rating for "Film value" below represents the averaged score from Tyler (5/10) and me (7/10). Although Tyler didn't like the movie as well as I did, the composite score nevertheless reflects a decent, upper-middling film on which people might want to take a chance.

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