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Another lump of flotsam from the ebbing tide of dodgy British gangster flicks, The Bank Job sees Jason Statham (who else?) as a lovable cockney rogue given a shot at the mythical Big Score. But all is not as it seems: the bank heist masterminded by ice queen Saffron Burrows is just a front for the real prize - a cache of dirty photos featuring a Royal princess in flagrante.

The Bank Job is based (extremely loosely) on the Walkie Talkie robbery of 1971, when a gang of thieves tunneled beneath Baker Street into Lloyds bank. They made off with an estimated £500,000, but not before their radio exchanges were picked up by a local ham radio operator. The whole operation was subject to a D Notice, meaning it had very little press coverage. According to veteran screenwriters Clement and Le Frenais, the answer to the riddle was that pack of compromising holiday snaps.

"STATHAM IS NO ROBERT DE NIRO"

It's an intriguing concept, but The Bank Job doesn't really deliver the thrills. For one thing, the heist itself is pretty dull – just lots of digging – and the performances are unimpressive. Statham is no Robert De Niro, but he's not the worst offender in this ragged ensemble, by a long chalk. The tone is strangely erratic, aiming for the breezy high-jinks of Ealing comedy in the first half, then collapsing into dead-eyed sadism, then back to cheeky cockney chappies for a reasonably rousing climax. David Suchet makes a lively villain and the period work from director Roger Donaldson and team is accomplished. But barring those last ten minutes, there's nothing here to get the adrenaline going.

The Bank Job is out in the UK on 28th February 2008.