The Bank Job ****

"The Bank Job" is a first-rate caper movie, a fast-paced and intricate thriller that is all the more impressive and interesting because, according to studio publicity, it is based on a true story hitherto kept secret by a gag order imposed in 1971 by the British government. Veteran director Roger Donaldson ("Dante's Peak," "The Recruit," and 2005's under-appreciated "The World's Fastest Indian") brings a sure hand to a complicated story filled with a crackerjack rogues' gallery of wonderfully-played characters.

At the head of the would-be big-time rogues is Jason Statham as Terry Leather, car dealer and petty criminal who is offered a chance to get into the big time. His ex-girlfriend, ex-model Martine (Saffron Burrows from "Boston Legal") has a job for him: a bank's safety deposit vault without alarm sensors for the next two weeks. Terry, in debt to loan sharks, decides to make this shoot-the-moon play and assembles a team to tunnel into the bank. What Terry doesn't know is that Martine is working for the government, MI5, or is it MI6?, who have their own reasons for retrieving the contents of a certain safe deposit box, to save embarrassing, not to say blackmailing, the royal family. But what none of them know is that there are others with interests in this vault. It seems like the bank robbers may be the most innocent of the parties involved.

Stratham and Burrows are excellent in this cat-and-mouse game, as are all of the minor characters. The editing is admirably clear in such a convoluted story, and the music supports the action without telegraphing every move. But the highest praise goes to director Donaldson, who delivers the best thriller in a long, long time.

Rated R. 110 Minutes. Directed by Roger Donaldson. Written by Dick Clement and Ian Lafrenais. Produced by Steve Chaseman, Charles Roven. Cinematography by Mike Coulter. Music Composed by J. Peter Robinson. Production Design by Gavin Blocquet. Edtied by John Gilbert. Principal actors: Jason Statham, Saffron Burrows, Stephen Campbell Moore, Daniel Mays, James Faulkner.