The Hatton Garden Job **½ (2017, Matthew Goode, Joely Richardson, David Calder, Larry Lamb, Phil Daniels, Stephen Moyer) – Movie Review

The involving and likeable 2017 crime thriller film The Hatton Garden Job details what happened when four old blokes robbed an underground safe deposit facility in London’s Hatton Garden area over Easter 2015. 

Director Ronnie Thompson’s involving and likeable enough 2017 crime thriller film The Hatton Garden Job details what happened when four old blokes robbed an underground safe deposit facility in London’s Hatton Garden area over the Easter holidays in April 2015. But it could have been made in 1957. It’s that cosy and old-fashioned.

The screenplay by Thompson and Ray Bogdanovich and Dean Lines is creaky at the knees, particularly given that this is a great real-life story to re-tell as largest burglary in English legal history, certainly the heist of the century. And Thompson’s handling lacks slickness and polish. With the guys working against the clock, the law and the odds, there is not enough tension and sense of life-or-death danger, making it too much of a lightweight caper.

But, nevertheless, the film grows on you, largely because of the fascinating true story, the low-life crime detail and, especially, the quirky, appealing performances of David Calder, Larry Lamb and Phil Daniels.

Matthew Goode seems way too posh to be the London criminal mastermind behind the operation, but he’s goode company anyway. It is sad to say that a miscast Joely Richardson is terrible as foreign criminal mastermind Erzebet Zslondos, though it is quite a fun appearance none the less.

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© Derek Winnert 2017 Movie Review

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