Star rating: **
Dir:Roger Donaldson
With: Jason Statham, Saffron Burrows, David Suchet
Watch the trailer here 
It's "Get yer trousers on, you're nicked" time again in this seventies-set British crime caper, based on a true story hushed up by the Establishment at the time. Jason Statham of Crank and Lock, Stock fame plays the small-time London car dealer given the chance to pull off the ultimate robbery - the kind where those losing out would rather the police did not get involved. There are extremely valuable items other than cash in these particular vaults, and if they are not recovered some VIPs will be seriously embarrassed. TV veterans Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais weave royal scandal, corruption, sex and class war into their tale of cops and blaggers. After a slow start and patchy middle, director Roger Donaldson (Thirteen Days, No Way Out) eventually brings the story to a thumping conclusion. A word in your shell-like though, guv'nor: along the way there is a lot of leaden, Sweeney-style dialogue and a brassy, intrusive score to endure, both of which lend the film a dated feel. It's one thing to set the action in a certain decade, but borrowing its production values into the bargain is taking a right liberty.
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