An entire city rigged with bombs? Sounds like a job for John McClane!

I must have a twisted mind because the first thing I thought was "Ealing Comedy": "When a newly uncovered WWII Japanese bomb becomes a popular tourist attraction, revitalizing a small California farming town devastated by the recession, the town's colorful residents must stop authorities from removing it and prevent their attention grabbing congressman from starting an international incident."

I like the heist idea. Remember how in Hard Rain (criminally underrated movie) the bad guys are using a catastrophic rain storm and flooding as cover to steal a lot of money? Same kind of logic, but the bank robbers are going to hit all the bank vaults in the city centre while it's evacuated because of a bomb. Only problem is, once they get into the first vault, they realise the bomb down the street is so unstable that even blowing the vault doors open will set it off - and by the time they reach the final vault, they're so close and the bomb's so unstable that any sound above a whisper or any vibration stronger than a footfall will blow up the whole city... Hey, I actually might write that one... :)

There was an old Hawaii 5-0 episode that used a fake Tsunami warning as the cover for a heist.

And I just remembered, but for that kind of tension you should definitely check out Sorcerer by William Friedkin, starring Roy Scheider, about some guys who have to transport a truckload of sweating dynamite through a jungle.

what if the bombs themselves were actually the centerpiece of the heist? you could change things around and say that a nazi super-weapon hidden at the end of WWII has accidentally surfaced 70 years later or what have you... and now you have an international spy thriller on your hands.

I **love** this idea, pliny. Love it. I really think you should write this.

Sorcerer is excellent and presumably one inspiration for Speed.