DAYLIGHT ROBBERY
UK, 2008, 92 minutes, Colour.
Geoff Bell, Vas Blackwood, Robert Boulter, Max Brown, Leo Gregory, Johnny Harris, Paul Nichols, Shaun Parkes, Justin Salinger, Shaun Williamson.
Directed by Paris Leonti.
Surprisingly interesting.
We have seen many a bank robbery film both from the UK and the US, but this one, small-budget and focused on just one day and the robbery, keeps the attention and generates credibility and suspense. While British directors often take the opportunity to make a gangster film as a debut feature which turns out to be routine or lacking oomph, this first film by Paris Leonti (both writing and directing) succeeds admirably in what it sets out to do.
Using an early check-in on an Easy Jet flight to Berlin to fly to World Cup matches (effective product placement here) as a cover for not waiting in the lounge but doubling back to central London to execute a detailed bank robbery plan, the film shows the steps in the robbery so that audiences understand the plan, get to know the personalities and idiosyncracies of the criminals, follow the details and the pressures on the robbers and their hostages, see the frustrations of the police who do not know whether they are dealing with a robbery or terrorists, appreciate the long time it takes to open the vault, pack the sacks with cash, transport them through a tunnel to a waiting van that the police know nothing about. The tunnel is the means by which the mastermind, a London cabbie, is able to enter the bank through a hole in the floor and orchestrate what happens.
And, of course, not everything goes according to plan. One of the robbers is hurtled from the van as it backs into the bank and suffers a severe injury causing loss of considerable blood. There is an interlude where the police allow a doctor to enter and treat the injured man.
Time passes. It is hard work to pull the sacks through the tunnel. They also have to lift and pull the sick man. Tensions arise between the men, some jealousies, a young nitwit, claustrophobia and a likelihood of the tunnel roof caving in. Will they pull it off and get back to the airport, board the plane as if they have been drinking and watching the matches on TV in the lounge?
At 90 minutes, the film is well-paced. The performances are also credible utilising the talents of actors whose faces rather than names are known: Geoff Bell, Vas Blackwood, Leo Gregory, Justin Salinger, Robert Boulter and the better-known film and television actor, Paul Nicholls, as Chubby, the wounded man.
A modest but very good example of its kind.
1.The popularity of bank robbery stories? The tradition of the films, American, British?
2.The title, its irony, robbery in daylight over one day?
3.The structure, the one day, the background of the World Cup, flights to Germany? The introduction, the group going to the airport, the airport as their cover? Going to the bank, the tensions in the van, the robbery, accidents, the plan, the ingenious aspects of the plan, the hard work in the robbery, the doctor for Chubby, the police, the achievement, going to the airport? The irony of the ending and the final information?
4.The group at the airport, the performance with the check-in girl, charming her? The cover, driving to the bank, Lucky and his sensible attitude towards the issues? Norman as the boss, tensions with the men in the back? Matty, his antagonism towards Norman? Terry, in the front, the discussions, common sense, Jay, his talk, the drugs? Chubby and his concern about the baby and telephoning Cheryl?
5.Alex, driving the taxi, talking to his passenger, the twist that this was his son?
6.Arrival, the truck, backing into the bank, Chubby and the accident, his leg? The people in the bank, the guns, the shooting? Getting the code, the man afraid, his being put in the cupboard? Drilling the vault? The bags, filling them, the detection of the hole in the floor? The tunnels?
7.Chubby, the need for first aid, the woman helping him, the blood? The call for the doctor, the police allowing it, his having to strip, going in through the truck? His tending Chubby, getting the blood for the transfusion? The doctor talking with Alex about the motivation for the robbery?
8.The jobs, Alex coming through the floor, supervising? His idea, Norman and the tunnels? His own claustrophobia? Filling the bags, carrying them, through the tunnel, the cart and its wheel, collecting them at the end, packing them in the new van? Jay finding the weight too heavy?
9.The police, the puzzle about the terrorists or the robbers, television, the surveillance, Jay and his rap and being on television? His excitement?
10.The scenes with Cheryl, the baby, the back-story, at home, the phone calls, her forgiving Chubby? The irony of his death?
11.The difficulties in getting out, lowering Chubby, carrying him through the tunnel, changing his clothes? Putting him in the van?
12.The irony of Alex’s son, in the bank, his coming out to seal the floor? Going back in undetected?
13.Norm, going through the tunnel, his fears, the collapse, desperation, Alex rescuing him?
14.The trip to the airport, Jay and his drugs, Terry and his telling him off? The hurry at the check-in, Norm running late, holding the plane, his eventual arrival?
15.On the plane, the group happy, Chubby and his bleeding?
16.Alex, his son, travelling to Monaco, free? The message to Norman in prison?
17.How well did the film sustain its suspense throughout the robbery, focusing on the detail, a sense of realism and what the robbers would actually do rather than sensationalising it? The frustration of the police?
