Posted on Fri, Jul. 18, 2008

British actor Jason Statham may be known primarily as an action-film guy (The Transporter, The Italian Job, War), but he has also proven himself more than capable of holding his own in movies that don't require cast members to have black belts in karate. In the excellent caper The Bank Job (Lionsgate, $30 DVD; $35 two-disc DVD; $40 Blu-ray) Statham stars as a used-car salesman who, working off a tip from an old flame (Saffron Burrows), hatches a complicated bank heist that has unexpected consequences.

The movie, which is based on the notorious 1971 Baker Street robbery in London, is purportedly based on new revelations involving the crime. The two-disc DVD and Blu-ray editions of the film include a documentary about the real-life incident that makes the feature film even more intriguing. Shot and structured like an old-school crime drama, The Bank Job fares much better than the Demi Moore-Michael Caine dud Flawless at using period details to derive suspense, but the real plot twists come in the second half of the film, after the robbery, when the thieves start to realize exactly what they've stolen.

The film's subdued color palette is nicely handled by the DVD and Blu-ray discs, and the film is accompanied by a commentary track in which Burrows, director Roger Donaldson and composer J. Peter Robinson talk about the differences between the actual crime and the film's version of events. There is also a collection of brief deleted scenes that provide some eye-opening revelations about the film's characters.

`SHUTTER'

A late entry into the increasingly tired wave of Japanese-horror remakes, the ghost story Shutter (20th Century Fox, $30 DVD, $40 Blu-ray) barely made a blip at the box-office earlier this year, suggesting the cycle may have run its course. That hasn't stopped distributor 20th Century Fox from releasing the film on DVD and Blu-ray in special editions loaded with extra features, although it's hard to imagine anyone passionate enough about the movie to actually sit and watch them all.

Actually based on a 2004 film from Thailand, but transplanted to Tokyo by a Japanese director (Masayuki Ochiai) for the Hollywood redo, the film stars Joshua Jackson and Rachael Taylor as newlyweds who strike a young woman with their car, then freak out when her ghostly visage starts appearing in their honeymoon photos. The movie is capably made and acted, but the pace is too slow and the thrills too low-wattage to scare anyone.

Since director Masayuki cannot speak English, actress Taylor, screenwriter Luke Dawson and production executive Alex Sundell provide a commentary track, pointing out the gruesome bits added to the DVD that were left out of the PG-13 theatrical version.

Other extras include a featurette on the film's Japanese locations and a brief history of ''spirit photography,'' which attempts to provide a scientific explanation for the film's central conceit of camera-friendly ghosts.