The Hatton Garden Job_cinema
hen thieves stole £200m in cash and bling from a vault beneath central London in 2015, it had all the hallmarks of a meticulous operation pulled off by a group of highly organised super-thieves. So when a posse of pensioners were arrested for the heist, it was hard not to be vaguely amused.
The film of the robbery takes this ‘Last of the Summer Wine meets Ocean’s 11’ idea and runs with it: all freeze frames, rhyming slang and Phil Daniels. With a semi-fabricated backstory involving the Hungarian mob (complete with slightly puzzling accent from queenpin Joely Richardson) and crooked ex-coppers, it’s pretty light on the deeper details of the
Wplan, but this was never meant to be a documentary. Not enough is really made of the ageing leads, who are entertaining but never quite funny enough, while the ex-con leading the job (played by Matthew Goode) is fairly forgettable, despite being inspired by a mysterious mastermind known only as ‘Basil’. Perhaps that was the point.
It pulls off a neat twist right at the end, but The Hatton Garden Job feels a little one-dimensional. If nothing else, at least it does prove you can (almost) get away with anything as long as you’re wearing a hi-viz jacket.