Taglines: No job is impossible.
The Vault Movie Storyline. Thom (Freddie Highmore) is a gifted engineering student at Cambridge University who is being courted by recruiters from several major oil companies, all promising him increasingly richer salaries and job perks if he agrees to work for them. Thom dismisses the offers, later explaining to his oil executive father over dinner that he doesn’t want the life a career in big oil would bring him.
During this conversation he receives an anonymous text message from somebody observing him in the restaurant who tells him to meet at a club. He goes to the location he’s instructed and meets a woman named Lorraine (Bergès-Frisbey), who then introduces him to Walter (Cunningham), who runs a salvaging company that had recovered a large treasure known as “the treasure of Guadalupe” but it was seized by the Spanish government because Walter’s company wasn’t legally salvaging the site.
Walter has put together a team consisting members with various skillsets including Lorraine, a con artist, Simon (Tosar) a logistics expert, Klaus (Stein) a computer hacker, and James (Riley) Walter’s longtime treasure-hunting partner. Walter needs Thom’s engineering genius to help them breach the vault that holds the confiscated treasure inside the Bank of Spain.
Thom agrees to help and joins them in Madrid during the 2010 World Cup as Spain is contending for the championship title. Using the crowd noise from the many fans gathered in the city to watch the matches as cover, they scout the bank and determine that the vault is a giant scale underneath a large water reservoir. If the weight on the scale fluctuates in the slightest, the vault floods, drowning any intruders who might be inside.
Needing to find a solution before the finals, after which the crowd will disperse, Thom soon determines that they can defeat the scale by freezing it with 500 liters of nitrogen, slowing the mechanics of the scale long enough that it wouldn’t register their presence and trigger a flood while they retrieve the treasure.
They move forward with their plan, with Simon successfully freezing the scale beneath the floor fo the vault while Thom, Lorraine, and James perilously make their way inside. Thom’s plan has worked but the scale begins thawing much quicker than expected, so the trio rush to find the item in the containers they’re looking for: a collection of three coins that Sir Francis Drake that describe where to find his massive treasure hoard.
As they locate the coins, Gustavo (Coronado), the head of bank security, has regained control of his systems after they were unknowingly penetrated by Klaus days earlier. Having learned in the days prior that the team had already infiltrated the bank to scout it, he dispatches a strike team to arrest the intruders.
Believing they’re compromised, Walter tells the trio to surrender to the team. James then pulls a gun on Thom, refusing to surrender, and demands Thom hand over the coins, revealing that he’s working for the British government. The vault locks down trapping them inside, however James’ diving experience affords him the ability to swim to safety and he abandons the other two.
The Vault (titled Way Down in various regions) is a 2021 Spanish action thriller film directed by Jaume Balagueró. The film stars Freddie Highmore, Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey, Sam Riley, Liam Cunningham, Luis Tosar, Axel Stein, José Coronado and Famke Janssen. The story bears a passing resemblance to that of the Black Swan Project, recovered in 2007 by Odyssey Marine Exploration, a private marine salvage firm, but later turned over to Spain after 5 years of legal wrangling.
The Vault (2021)
Directed by: Jaume Balagueró
Starring: Freddie Highmore, Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey, Sam Riley, Liam Cunningham, Luis Tosar, Axel Stein, José Coronado, Famke Janssen
Screenplay by: Rowan Athale, Michel Gaztambide, Borja Glez. Santaolalla, Andres Koppel, Rafa Martínez
Production Design by: Patrick Salvador
Cinematography by: Daniel Aranyó
Film Editing by: David Gallart
Costume Design by: Marian Coromina
Art Direction by: Jaime Anduiza, Idoia Esteban
Music by: Arnau Bataller
MPAA Rating: R for language.
Distributed by: TF1 Studio (Worldwide), Saban Films (United States), Sony Pictures Releasing International (Spain)
Release Date: March 26, 2021 (United States), November 12, 2021 (Spain)
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