A kind of British JFK, The Bank Job employs a dizzying mixture of fact, specualtion, and innuendo to recreate one possible explanation for the infamous 1971 robbery of a Lloyd’s Bank in London. Jason Statham leads a solid cast of workmanlike performers, but the real star is director Roger Donaldson’s sharp mixture of heist thriller mechanics and and the political/social fallout when Britain’s high and mighty—both legitimate and otherwise—have their darkest secrets exposed. The underlying theme is that society is just a thin façade for mechanisms of power and dishonesty the likes of which we can hardly imagine, and the fact that such disturbing sentiments are enmeshed in such an effective crackerjack thriller makes it all the more compelling. (Hollywood Jewel  16, Waco, TX)