The Bank Job
Lionsgate | Release Date: March 7, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
25
Mixed:
7
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
VarietyLeslie Felperin
An engrossing if underwhelming period thriller. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Dull title for a juicy, fact-based caper movie that's full of surprises I have no intention of spoiling. Read full review
70
The New YorkerDavid Denby
The actual robbery that the picture is based on is shrouded in mystery, and the screenwriters, Dick Clement and Ian La Fresnais, have engaged in a fair amount of entertaining invention. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterFrank Scheck
A slow-paced and often confusingly plotted crime drama that never lives up to the delicious potential of its premise. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleJosh Rosenblatt
Unlike the other great caper films of the last 10 years, like "Ocean’s 11" and "The Italian Job" – stylish affairs in which punishment is close enough to give the audience a sense of lingering danger but never so close that it gets in the way of the technological fetishism and love of tailored shirts that apparently make grand larceny such a kick – the blowback in The Bank Job is real and ugly and involves some sort of pneumatic paint-stripping machine that would freak out the Coen Brothers. Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverRobert Wilonsky
Statham's totally believable. He might yet become Bruce Willis. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
A heist movie in the classic tradition - it details every aspect of the caper, from its genesis to its aftermath. The fact that there's political intrigue and espionage swirling around the edges only makes it more fascinating. Read full review
75
PremiereGlenn Kenny
The suspense aspect works like mad, but what's also noteworthy is the character component, which at times evokes a "Smash Palace"-era Donaldson. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Slick, ice-cold and enjoyable, The Bank Job is a bit of all right. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
One of the pleasures of The Bank Job is that it returns us to the days when robbing a bank was a gritty, hole-in-the-wall affair. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Donaldson also misses the chance to score some easy laughs from his petty criminals, who are infinitely more audacious than they are competent. Read full review
70
Washington PostDesson Thomson
What makes director Roger Donaldson's movie greater than zany heist fare is that this particular robbery really happened and that this episode illuminated an almost moral clash between the haves and the have-nots of Great Britain. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
Based more on rumor and supposition than fact. It's a highly entertaining set of hypotheses. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
A surprisingly tight, clever, twisty heist tale. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Semi-decent, somewhat okay, not-half-bad. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Statham fans weaned on the adrenaline flowing through "The Transporter" and "Crank" may feel short-changed, but the rest of us can appreciate the unassuming, old-fashioned craftsmanship of The Bank Job, which is based on a true-life heist. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Imagine a blend of "Snatch," "Ocean's 11" and "The Italian Job." Then juxtapose the staples of the caper genre with real events involving national security and high-level corruption, and the result is The Bank Job. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
The Bank Job engages us fully with a tale that's well-fashioned more than anything else, a fascinating study of morality at several levels of English society, and of honor, or the lack of it, among implausibly likable thieves. Read full review
60
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
The workmanlike title The Bank Job is a nice fit for this wham-bam caper flick. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Fascinating: supposedly the crooks kept all the cash and jewelry, but their sponsors in the MI5 were really after sexually explicit blackmail photos of Princess Margaret and other aristocrats that were being held by the revolutionary Michael X. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle Smith
Jason Statham, possibly the greatest B-movie leading man of this era, stars in a complicated and clever imagining of what might have happened in the mysterious 1971 London bank heist dubbed the "Walkie-Talkie Robbery" - in other words, it was unbelievably high-tech. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleSteve Winn
A brisk, entertaining crime thriller. Read full review
91
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
The gritty heist picture The Bank Job has everything adult action fans could want, starting with a grand, fact-inspired gimmick. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
The movie doesn't hang together as a thriller, and the characters don't hang together as interesting people. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Nothing more than an efficient time-killer with the added bonus of being based on a real misadventure. But, unlike its benighted cast of characters, it gets the job done without a hitch. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKevin Crust
The film dawdles at times. but for the most part Donaldson keeps just the right amount of tension present in each scene. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
What The Bank Job ends up stealing is all your precious time. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Feels both absolutely of the 1970s and absolutely fresh. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
One doesn't want to oversell the film; you could catch it on DVD and regret nothing. But, frankly, in a marketplace that tends toward cranked-up action thrills, it's just nice to watch a level-headed crime movie aimed at actual grown-ups. Read full review
80
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Entertaining and subtle at once, it doesn't just dazzle us with the hows and whys of a particularly wily brand of thievery; it transports us to a specific time and place that often seems to fall between significant eras. The Bank Job is set in a country that's in transition, an extended metaphor for the way its characters are in transition, too. Read full review
70
TimeRichard Schickel
There is not a lot of scintillating dialogue in The Bank Job, but there are plenty of kinky sexual allusions and it includes a torture sequence about as brutal as anything you're likely to see in the movies these days. Read full review
60
Film ThreatStina Chyn
The Bank Job secures the viewer’s attention pretty quickly and does not relinquish that hold for a second. Read full review
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