David R. Walker

Bandit

Director: Allan Unger

Cast: Josh Duhamel, Elisha Cuthbert, Mel Gibson, Nestor Carbonell, Swen Temmel

Running Time: 2 hours and 6 minutes

Film Rating: 6.5 out of 10

American actor Josh Duhamel plays the charming but duplicitous Canadian bank robber Robert Whiteman in director Allan Unger’s cops and robbers film Bandit also starring Canadian actress Elisha Cuthbert (House of Wax) as Robert’s unsuspecting wife Andrea and Oscar winner Mel Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge, Braveheart) as Ottawa gangster Tommy Kaye.

What really elevates Bandit is Josh Duhamel’s performance as Robert a clever and slippery bank robber who devises a brilliant scheme of flying around Canada from Vancouver to Toronto to Ottawa and rob banks in various forms of disguise in the mid 1980’s while he uses the stolen cash to try and build a life with Andrea and their baby daughter.

Naturally, like bees to honey, robbers attract cops and in this case its two persistent Ottawa policemen Snydes played by Nestor Carbonell (The Dark Knight Rises) and the sleek Hoffman played by Austrian actor Swen Temmel (Midnight in the Switchgrass, In Time) who are determined to catch Robert as the bank robberies pile up and he remains an elusive thief.

Canadian director Allan Unger brings a uniquely Canadian film aesthetic to Bandit which is devoid of flashy camera shots or images of glistening American skyscrapers but keeps Bandit interesting and turns this bank robbery thriller into a specific character study of Robert and why he keeps returning to his criminal ways.

Fortunately Josh Duhamel has that charisma to pull off such a role as Robert portraying a real life bank robber who did not possess the Hollywood glamour of his onscreen character. In actual fact the real Robert was an ordinary guy who manage to almost pull off the greatest bank heists in Canadian history back in the 1980’s.

Bandit is an engaging film, which could have been edited, but is elevated by two amazing performances by Josh Duhamel and Mel Gibson, the latter has not been onscreen much since his 1980’s heyday when Gibson starred in such box office hits as the Lethal Weapon and Mad Max franchises.

Audiences must bear in mind that Bandit is a Canadian period film about the 1980’s and the era of bank robberies which occurred during a recession in North America in 1986.

Elisha Cuthbert is suitably good as Andrea as she has to adjust to the truth that her husband is actually a frequent flyer bank robber, better known as Bandit. With the exception of Mel Gibson, it’s refreshing to see lesser known actors headlining a mainstream film.

For fascinating retelling of a true story without all the American flashy glamour, catch the Canadian thriller Bandit, which gets a film rating of 6.5 out of 10. Recommended viewing.

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