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Belfast Bank Heist: Underpowered True Crime
24 Mar
Summary
- A 2004 Belfast bank raid is depicted with underwhelming execution.
- Eddie Marsan plays an uptight bank manager in a kidnapping plot.
- Film lacks vision and budget, resulting in an ordinary work.
A 2004 Belfast bank raid, intended as a gripping true-crime thriller, is instead a critically underpowered and apologetic film. Director Colin McIvor's bland direction fails to elevate the material, which sounds like it could have been a top-tier feature. Eddie Marsan stars as Richard Murray, an uptight bank manager whose wife is kidnapped. He must then cooperate with a security guard, Barry, whose loved one is also held captive.
Together, they are forced to pack millions in used bank notes and disguise them as rubbish. The robbers themselves are largely undifferentiated, though one guard does provide a memorably unpleasant character. The film hints at IRA involvement, but the Troubles are mostly relegated to past memories.
A subplot concerning planned redundancies at the bank, of concern to security chief Mags (Michelle Fairley), is left unresolved. Ultimately, the film-makers appear to have lacked both the budget and the creative vision to make this true story engaging, resulting in a most ordinary cinematic effort.
