Jason Statham is well on his way to becoming typecast. It seems like he's in a ton of these kind of action films lately, although this movie is a bit more subdued and complicated than some of them. At least in this heist flick, there are several twists and turns and you have to stay alert to follow who is exactly on the up-and-up and who isn't, and Statham isn't punching out 10 people at once.

This is another one of these modern-day films in which the crooks, the thieves, the bandits - whatever - are the "good guys" and the police and the government officials are the bad guys. This seems to be a big favorite of the anti-authority filmmakers world in the last 40 years whether it's in Hollywood or London. Regardless, it's a very entertaining film and Statham and company are fun to watch. That's also nothing new as the tough "Transporter" star has become a regular at playing these kind of nice guy/macho/thug roles.

Statham plays "Terry Leather," a man recruited by a former hottie/model girlfriend "Martine Love," (Saffron Burrows) to rob a bank. Statham is a family man but desperate for money and, obviously, not very honest. Thousands of pounds/dollars is in it for the thieves but valuable compromising sex photos are the real goal of the people who want the bank depository drawers robbed. Those want to be grabbed before the owner uses them and ruins some high uppity-ups in British government. Several people wants photos for other reasons. This whole thing isn't simple; there are number of sub-plots along the way regarding who wants what in the bank and for what reasons.

There is also a story involving a Malcolm X-wannabe kind of creep who is into extortion and murder. Actually, everyone is pretty much a creep in this film, just to varying degrees. They are all interesting, too, and several of the minor characters have a good sense of humor, too. In particular, I liked Daniel Mays as "Dave Shilling." Add some very tense robbery scenes, some sex early on, some double-crosses later and you have a very serious Keystone Cops type story where you're never quite sure what crazy thing is going to happen next.

A fun two hours of diversion, supposedly based on a true-life account, but knowing filmmakers I suspect much of this is made up for dramatic purposes. That's okay, we just watch to be entertained, and this is entertaining.

Okay, so heist movies are ten-a-penny at the moment, but that doesn't mean that a decent bank robbery flick that ticks all of the right boxes won't do the job. THE BANK JOB, a supposedly true '70s set story of scandal, corruption and one big score, proves that there's still life in the genre yet: this is a slick and efficient movie with style to spare.

Tough-cookie-with-a-heart Jason Statham plays Terry Leather (what a name!),the owner of a small East End garage who assembles a team to tackle a bank robbery. Said robbery takes up much of the running time as we get involved with the meticulous planning and preparation, but of course you don't have to be a cinemaphile to know that there's going to be hell to pay afterwards.

Things take a decidedly vicious turn with the involvement of a seedy strip club owner (David Suchet, playing against type and excellent with it),and from that point in it's every man for himself. Statham relishes the chance to do more than just hit people, even if he does just end up playing the same old tough-but-decent character he plays in every single movie.

Saffron Burrows, looking exceptionally gorgeous, is a fine addition to the cast and indeed the acting is what this movie's all about. Stephen Campbell Moore and Daniel Mays also do well as gang members, and keep an eye out for Craig Fairbrass playing to type as a particularly nasty East End thug.

The real stars, of course, are writing partners Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, who have been doing this thing since the '60s and whose script is so witty, entertaining and well-rounded that it would have been impossible to get it wrong.

Terry Leather (Jason Statham) is a struggling petty criminal. Martine Love (Saffron Burrows) has a proposal to rob a bank breaking into the safety deposit boxes. Martine had been pinched for smuggling drugs, and the MI5 or MI6 is using her to get at a deposit box. They're after Michael X who is a black activist, drug smuggler and general disruptive element. The only problem is that he is blackmailing the government with embarrassing photos of a royal family member in the deposit box. Terry doesn't know about the photos. When the gang breaks into the boxes, they find other embarrassing photos of prominent politicians, incriminating ledgers of big criminals, and lots of loot. Now everybody is after them.

I don't know how much if any of this is true. All I know is that it doesn't really matter for the movie. The actual robbery is fun. The aftermath is quite complicated. It doesn't go into the flashy realm of the Oceans movies. The only minor complaint is the ending that is a little too neat. Somebody got overtime neatly pulling all the loose threads to wrap up at the same time. It's really unnecessary. A messy ending could have worked better.