The Hatton Garden Job

The audacious Easter holiday raid in the bowels of London's jewellery district grabbed worldwide headlines in 2015, but this is a relatively pedestrian account of events, and arguably follows heist movie conventions too closely. Cocksure safecracker Matthew Goode is the perp who, at the time of release, is still unidentified (nicknamed "Basil" by Scotland Yard) who recruits a motley assortment of old lags (Larry Lamb, Phil Daniels, Clive Russell, David Calder) tempted by "one last job", while Hungarian mob matriarch Joely Richardson pulls strings from the shadows. Press reports focused on the advanced age of the gang ("OAPs 11" quips Daniels), yet director Ronnie Thompson (Tower Block), in the rush to release the first of a clutch of films about the robbery, barely scratches the surface of the players' backgrounds or motivations. He relies for the most part on the typical freeze-frames, fast-cuts and voiceovers familiar from countless Lock, Stock knock-offs. More time poring over the blueprints could have made this a richer experience, instead of merely serviceable.