Daylight Robbery (2008)

Great Film overall

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The plot is a clever one - if not entirely original; how many different ways are there to rob a bank, after all - and shows how the best laid plots have to cover the unexpected. This wasn't a 'best laid plot', however and the failures of the robbers are only matched by the appalling incompetence and lack of professionalism of the police handling the situation. That could've been used to generate a very effective comedy, but there is no humour whatsoever in this film. And that is where the entire premise breaks down - none of the characters generates the slightest sympathy from the audience (unless it's shown in prison to a bunch of cons, perhaps), so there is nothing to engage us. Indeed the natural tendency as it progresses is to hope they all get caught and one or two of them actually get killed resisting arrest. The only slightly sympathetic character spends most of the film semi-unconscious and bleeding to death, because despite knowing they'd enter the bank by smashing a van through the doors, he wasn't holding on tightly enough and got thrown through the rear window, impaling his thigh on the rear wiper in the process - a prime candidate for a Darwin Award! If this is supposed to be a portrayal of ordinary English blokes then God help the country! As a Brit myself I am ashamed to consider them as compatriots (and I have the greatest respect for the Cockneys I have worked with)! This film has been compared to the original* The Italian Job, a film that makes me cringe nowadays, but it does have its saving graces. This film unfortunately has none. * The remake, with Wahlberg, Theron and Statham, is a really good film that I can strongly recommend.

Hugely funny,I hardly stopped laughing throughout.Wonderful comic performance from Sean Williamson as the copper in charge at a bank siege who couldn't find his own backside with a telescope and a sniffer dog. Brilliantly satirises stereotypical Cockerney Geezers ..Luvv'ly Jubbly,Leave It Aht....Yer'avin a tin barrfff incha...etc etc...I absolutely howled at their sharp - witted London Patois...and then I realised it was meant to be serious!No,honestly,the makers of "Daylight Robbery" intended it to be edgy,urban and gritty.So you could believe,if you were very,very silly,that this is what it's really like to rob a bank. First you put on stocking masks that actually show your every feature very clearly,then you employ complete morons who can't stop talking all the time.Then you fix an alibi that only holds water if nobody has ever seen "The Italian Job". And a method of retrieving the money that went out with "The Great Escape"which,incidentally,is all you'd be dreaming of for the next thirty years or so if you carried on like that. So,hardly "Rififi" then,and threatening to kill an SO.19 officer would merely have caused you to have been blown the f*** away whilst trying to escape. Get real,guys. Frankly I have yet to see a British caper movie that is remotely convincing because the bad guys never seem bad enough or the cops ruthless enough. We always want to give our villains dear old mums or heavily pregnant wives/girlfriends as if that abates their villainy somehow. And our coppers,who,strangely like the popular belief,never seem to have mums at all,dear and old or otherwise.And their wives,if seen,are thin lipped beehived brow - beaten creatures for ever preparing their husbands dinner then throwing it in the bin because he's going to be late home again. Till that day when British cinema comes up with something like the real McCoy(and I shan't hold my breath) it inflicts the likes of "Daylight Robbery" on us with depressing regularity. Unless one of your loved ones is in it I should give it a miss.

Expected much more from the movie after the looking at the plot. Daylight Robbery is an epitome of a mediocre movie....The movie is watchable but do not expect anything from it.. Maybe the movie lacks flare and punch but on the whole it ain't as bad as others seem to have commented...it has a pretty good ending compared with the style the movie goes in. Too many unanswered questions arise as one is watching the movie.. The cast ain't a solid one, with no existence of a main role as such. With too many flaws in the planning and execution of the storyline , i highly doubt this movie will even make a decent run in the theaters.. So, finally think twice before buying this movie or else your expression would be like " hey, have i seen this one before"..Cheers lads.. Brit movies will always rock irrespective!!!! Therefore this movie gets a average but merciful 5.5-6 out of 10...

I would think that this film has been overshadowed probably due to The Bank Job being released only a couple of months previous. There's a bunch of familiar faces from films such as Lock Stock, Snatch, The Business etc and even a bloke from Eastenders. Your usual cockney lot.That being said the acting is spot on and the dialogue is funny. Gotta love low budget British films, there's a hell of a lot more of them recently and its a welcome change to the usual big budget yankee tosh.The characters are fun but believable, especially the young white kid really made me laugh. What made him so funny was the fact that I know kids just like him haha.The rest of the crims were your usual hard cases, jokers and sarcastic cockney types.Overall the storyline and dialogue was very well written and an enjoyable film throughout.I give it 8/10 to try and make up for whichever tosspot gave it such a crap rating. Bravo.