COLUMN: ‘Bandits’ twist tradition theme
Bandits is a movie about bank robbers but in the history of bank-robber movies, it is one of the freshest, well-written movies of its time.
Why? Not because it’s filled with techno-gadgets, not because it has beautiful women in shiny tight leather slip through a screen of lasers to get the goods but because it is 100 percent character driven and the characters are well-written and well-delivered.
The movie begins with Joe and Terry, played by Bruce Willis (Unbreakable, The Whole Nine Yards) and Billy Bob Thornton (South of Heaven, West of Hell, A Simple Plan) respectively, who find themselves unexpectedly breaking out of prison and robbing banks to keep the cash flow coming in and ultimately to take them to their tropical paradise.
Joe is tough but centered, taking the lead in the robberies and of the team and spouting off Zen wisdom from books he doesn’t and probably never will understand.
Terry on the other hand is the brain of the team, who is not only obsessive-compulsive but also an extreme hypochondriac.
Their lives take another uncalculated turn as Terry is rundown, literally, by a neurotic upper-class housewife, played by Cate Blanchett (The Gift, The Talented Mr. Ripley) who finds little fulfillment in her life and persuades the bank robbers to let her tag along.
The threesome make a hilarious team and find themselves in more and more danger as the film progresses.
From an acting standpoint, Billy Bob Thornton stole the show in this film with a wonderfully funny physical performance and fine-tuned, consistent timing.
Director Barry Levinson (Sphere, Wag the Dog) has put together a very funny movie with an original spin on some old ideas.
But, I must give credit to the writer of this film, Harley Peyton who has spent most of his career in television for the characters of Joe and Terry and allowing me a couple of hours of laughter.
Grade: A-