Diamondback Online - The University of Maryland's Independent Daily Student Newspaper

Jason Statham's career is officially stuck in neutral.

After the London native secured his place in Hollywood with an appearance in the 2000 hit Snatch, Statham has made a habit of cranking out intense action thrillers with little actual plot to speak of. Though his latest effort, The Bank Job, may work well enough as an entertaining adaptation of a true story, any in-depth look will reveal the film's clear lack of substance.

Statham plays Terry, a car dealer in 1971 London who keeps some questionable company but generally means to stay out of trouble. When his old friend Martine (Saffron Burrows, Reign Over Me) meets with him and suggests a flawless plan to rob a bank, however, his interest is caught. Terry decides to take on the job and assembles a team of amateur criminals to help him, but it isn't long before the unlikely thieves realize they are in way over their heads.

Underlying issues of sexual scandal and political blackmail creep up in director Roger Donaldson's (The World's Fastest Indian) film when the narrative turns to the story of revolutionary Michael X (Peter De Jersey, Doctors ). A felon who walks the streets freely thanks to incriminating photographs of British royalty, the figure may be an interesting one - but his direct relevance to the plot is debatable.

Many of the scenes involving him and other secondary characters seem unnecessary, partially because the direct connection between Michael X and the robbery is not made until midway through the movie. Also, an entire subplot about a British spy (Hattie Morahan, The Golden Compass) investigating Michael X has absolutely no connection to the central story line.

Having based the film on an actual crime for which no arrests were made, writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais (both from Across the Universe) seemingly use the case's gray areas as an excuses to leave in some glaring plot holes. This is most evident when two characters are suspiciously murdered, only to have their deaths dismissed as unsolved mysteries and given no further explanation.

When it comes to the heist itself, the film's central sequence is surprisingly disappointing. As the team loudly drills a tunnel into the bank and gets by unnoticed thanks to laughable police negligence, the scene is not only anticlimactic - it makes one wonder if the filmmakers have taken unrealistic liberty with the true story.

It is after the theft that The Bank Job gains some steam and sees the jumbled pieces of its narrative fall into place. The previously introduced matters of political corruption are worked into the lives of the protagonists, and the film's suspenseful final act somewhat justifies its sluggish beginnings.

Statham's Terry, a family man despite his coarse demeanor, is the closest thing to a fleshed-out character The Bank Job has. Afraid that his family will face repercussions from the robbery - and maybe even be torn apart by his budding romantic interest in Martine - Terry's dilemma sounds compelling enough on paper. But the plot thread is forcibly rushed through before reaching an unearned conclusion, making it just another one of the movie's many missed opportunities.

Sadly, Statham doesn't look like he intends to step outside his comfort zone any time soon, as his upcoming projects include sequels Crank 2: High Voltage, Transporter 3 and an oddly familiar-sounding heist flick titled The Brazilian Job. Though some actors can lead a successful career by simply rehashing the same role over and over again, Statham should understand he has the screen presence and charisma to be better than that.

tfloyd1@umd.edu

RATING: 2.5 STARS OUT OF 5

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