There is something particularly satisfying about an old-fashioned bank heist movie. Watching men or women crawl on their bellies as they try to tunnel into the vault with some of the riches in the world -- or at least as much as they can cart away -- is vicariously thrilling.

"The Bank Job" is that movie, thanks partly to its 1971 setting, when elaborate security systems, surveillance cameras and DNA testing didn't exist. In fact, these Brits don't even wear gloves, which means they're leaving fingerprints all over the place.

But this is no average bank job and there's more than just diamonds and a cache of cash at risk. The contents of the safety deposit boxes could rock the royals and plenty of highly placed government officials, too.

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'The Bank Job'

3 stars = Good
Ratings explained

• Starring: Jason Statham, above, and Saffron Burrows
• Rating: R for sexual content, nudity, violence and language
• Web site: 'The Bank Job'

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"The Bank Job" was inspired by a real robbery at Lloyds Bank in London in 1971. It was called the "Walkie-Talkie Robbery" because the robbers communicated by walkie-talkie, which is downright quaint in these days of cell phones, text messages and wireless headsets.

A model named Martine (Saffron Burrows) pitches the heist to an old pal who is no stranger to law-breaking: Terry (Jason Statham), a shady car dealer. Martine knows about a bank where the alarms will be turned off.

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Terry. We can't pass this up," she persuasively argues. That sets the stage for a ragtag band of burglars that includes a part-time actor, a nervous newlywed and a dapper gentleman who seems the least likely man trying to tunnel his way to riches.

"The Bank Job," directed by Roger Donaldson, splits its time between the men (and occasional woman) down in the dirt and those above ground but waist-deep in the muck with dirty, sexy secrets and power games.

It's a large group that includes British intelligence agents, a self-proclaimed black power leader known as Michael X (Peter de Jersey), a porn king (David Suchet), "coppers" and a couple of people who might know their way around Buckingham Palace.

Writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais based some characters on real people but, in other instances, changed names, fleshed out backgrounds or took great license with the fact that a woman apparently was involved.

Theirs is not exactly the gang that couldn't shoot straight but these crooks engage in some ill-advised behavior, as when one orders take-out food ... because he's hungry.

"The Bank Job" presumes its watchers have some knowledge of the British government and hierarchy (which makes for some confusion), but it assembles an appealing, diverse band of small-time crooks who encounter their share of violence, lest you mistake this for a lightweight lark.

Statham, who twice played a transporter in a pair of action pictures, leads the way as Terry, a dodgy fellow who has a wife and two daughters but cannot resist the lure of a pretty face or paying off his debts and starting afresh. Even if he has to do it one bucket of dirt at a time.

The fast-paced story keeps you guessing about the fate of the bandits, the loot, the secrets real and imagined, and the scalawags.