An English bank heist flick, Daylight Robbery is a decent hour-and-a-half of entertainment. Its unadorned, bare bones storytelling is a bit bracing and it's script manages to hit you with just enough surprises in genuinely surprising places. The ending is a bit odd, with writer/director Paris Leonti apparently thinking he made his characters much more endearing and three dimensional than he really did, and Leonti hews much closer to reality than the colorful eccentricity common to British crime drama. This is like a streamlined and less complex version of the American bank robbery film Inside Man, something which it seems to acknowledge itself.
At the start of the World Cup in Germany, a band of criminals back their van through the front doors of a London bank and proceed to rob it. One of them is seriously injured at the start, but they manage to recover quickly from that and terrorize the bank manager into opening the vault. As the authorities surround the bank, however, it's not clear how they plan to get away with their ill gotten gains. The answer to that is almost shockingly old fashioned and the few additional twists the story throws at you make it clear that Daylight Robbery isn't trying to blow you away by showing you something you've never seen before. This is more like a friendly visit to a place you've been before that reminds you of what you enjoyed about it the first time you were there.
As long as you don't come into it with expectations that are too high, I think you'll like this motion picture. The plot is smart, yet still straight forward. The characters have just slightly more personality than they need to service the plot. The direction isn't flashy but it effectively balances danger and comedy while portraying the bank robbers as both hardened criminals and men with some sort of moral code. The bank heist flick is a well worn genre and new entries usually try to do something overly clever or energetic to get noticed. That's not Daylight Robbery. This production isn't trying to break any boundaries, smash any clichés or overwhelm the audience with how hip and snazzy it is.
Its modest intentions don't allow this movie to be a "must see", but I certainly recommend it for anyone who wants to have a good time.
At the start of the World Cup in Germany, a band of criminals back their van through the front doors of a London bank and proceed to rob it. One of them is seriously injured at the start, but they manage to recover quickly from that and terrorize the bank manager into opening the vault. As the authorities surround the bank, however, it's not clear how they plan to get away with their ill gotten gains. The answer to that is almost shockingly old fashioned and the few additional twists the story throws at you make it clear that Daylight Robbery isn't trying to blow you away by showing you something you've never seen before. This is more like a friendly visit to a place you've been before that reminds you of what you enjoyed about it the first time you were there.
As long as you don't come into it with expectations that are too high, I think you'll like this motion picture. The plot is smart, yet still straight forward. The characters have just slightly more personality than they need to service the plot. The direction isn't flashy but it effectively balances danger and comedy while portraying the bank robbers as both hardened criminals and men with some sort of moral code. The bank heist flick is a well worn genre and new entries usually try to do something overly clever or energetic to get noticed. That's not Daylight Robbery. This production isn't trying to break any boundaries, smash any clichés or overwhelm the audience with how hip and snazzy it is.
Its modest intentions don't allow this movie to be a "must see", but I certainly recommend it for anyone who wants to have a good time.