Z/Web

I thought this was a standard bank caper/con job sort of film, but because it’s based on a real life story, it’s much different. Everything gets really convoluted, just like in real life. Let me see if I can explain the mess. Basically in 1971 the British government tried to prosecute a bad drunk dealer from Trinidad, but he apparently had taken compromising pictures of the royal princess — thus rendering him immune from prosecution as the govt. couldn’t afford to let him release the photos. But MI-6 learns the pictures are in a safety deposit box at a certain bank in London and since they can’t do anything official, they recruit a group of semi-criminal losers to rob the bank. The thieves think it’s just for the money and know nothing about the photos. Everything goes as planned, to an extent, but then the thieves discover that in the safe deposit boxes are a mobster’s account ledgers which incriminate a slew of cops on the take, as well as a madam’s compromising video and pictures of some of her high-profile government clients. Everyone wants their stuff back, of course, and suddenly the robbers are being chased by everyone: the cops, the mob, MI-6. It’s crazy!

Despite such complexities in plot, the film works — it’s easy to understand what is going on and the complications and problems are hilarious. Excellent film. Not particularly deep, but definitely fun and well-done.

Flashy special effects are at the heart of this film and though the story tries (too) hard to be “important” it’s way too generic and the “deep” aspects of the film just come across as silly. That said, it’s not that bad a film. The story is simple: a tribe is attacked and their people taken captive, including a girl who is the main character’s bride-to-be, so he sets out after them to rescue her. He has adventures along the way, there’s action and drama, bla bla bla, he makes friends who help him overthrow the evil emperor, horray for everyone. There’s a degree of “mystical” nonsense that plagues the film and that weakens the ending which goes a bit into weird territory with a death that makes no sense, but overall this is a fun film, the special effects are genuinely impressive and worth seeing just for them.