HBeachBabe

There's an old screen writing adage that all story telling can be boiled down to: Put your main character in a tree, then throw rocks at him, then get him out of the tree. On those terms, a caper film is already tailor-made since the heroes are crooks thus they have ready-made antagonists in the authorities/police/government trying to stop them.

The Bank Job does a nice job of setting up a number of different plot lines leading to our heroes getting in a tree (breaking into a bank vault). The problem then comes that we are waiting for the rocks to start hurling in, but they never come. Sure there are some setbacks and tense moments, but overall, the heroes/crooks are rarely in much jeopardy - certainly never enough for us as an audience to think that they won't succeed at the heist and the getaway, even when the getaway gets complicated. Films like this thrive on tension and while the heist and the exit plan are entertaining, they are rarely tense.

The film also suffers from a lack of third act twists. Everything that happens is very straight forward and set up in previous scenes. There are no big reveals, no stunning reversals. I'm not saying a film has to have an "I see dead people" moment, but a heist thriller needs to have some twists and on that count, The Bank Job comes in low.

I enjoyed the film for what it was, but couldn't help thinking it should have been so much better.