Review: Tu £ sday – Tuesday (2008)

Directed by: Sacha Bennett | 80 minutes | action, thriller, crime | Actors: Philip Glenister, John Simm, Ashley Walters, Cristian Solimeno, Kevin McNally, Dylan Brown, Gregor Truter, James Barriscale, Richard Brown, Kate Magowan, Kirsty Mitchell, Alex MacQueen, Sal Esen, Roger Layton, Veronica Brown, Mick Barber, Lucy Burns, Linal Haft, Emil Marwa, Beth Goddard, Jonathan Parsons, Marina Fiorato, David Garry, Catherine Locardi, Andy Cody, James Millman, Paul Fournel, Nigel Bliss, Jim Alexander, Brian Bosley, Dell Taylor

Just any town somewhere in England has been plagued for months by a group of experienced bank robbers. The men work with the perfect planning and always manage to empty the safe in record time. Police Chief Thomas is puzzled and dismayed that he cannot get hold of them. But they still have to make a mistake. After all, everyone gets sloppy over time.

One day, the bank robbers decide to squat in a local bank, where at that moment an emerald worth a few million is kept. The preparations are going smoothly as always, but when the time comes, not everything goes according to plan. There appear to be other robbers who want to do a squat on exactly the same day. Soon everything goes wrong and everyone is actually arrested. However, the emerald is missing. At headquarters, it is up to Detectives Jerry and Thomas to find out what exactly happened.

‘Tu £ sday’ is a bit of a cross between an average whodunnit and a film of the type ‘Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’. The swearing, flat-talking Britons and the funny idle discussions are certainly reminiscent of it. However, ‘Tu £ sday’ lacks the characters that ‘Lock Stock’ does have. By the way, the storyline of ‘Tu £ sday’ is very complex with various flashforwards and flahbacks. Fragments of the robbery are interspersed with scenes in which suspects are interrogated. Every now and then your head turns to who was where now at what time. That is also a bit of a downside. Occasionally the film is simply impossible to follow.

The common thread, or rather the motto of ‘Tu £ sday’, is the fact that just about all characters seem to hate their job. If only the members of the gang were suspected in the beginning, doubts soon creep in about the intentions of other attendees on that particular Tuesday. What about that cashier who was promised that great promotion? And what about businessman William, who wants to divorce his wife and needs money? And that bank manager is also suspicious. The big question: Don’t you hate your job, and if you had the chance to rake in a few million emeralds, would you?

Tu £ sday is definitely a movie worth watching. There is no high threshold, it is suitable for every audience and looks away. With many films in the genre you can see at some point how things are going, but with ‘Tu £ sday’ the ending really comes as a surprise. A nice evening of TV fun.