The Bank

Greed is at the core of this film. It's incredible how money can corrupt people to the point that it will make them do things that ultimately, they will live to regret.

It was a surprise to see this Australian film that only played a couple of weeks in New York. It's a much better picture than some of the very highly regarded ones that came out just about the same time and are still around, while this one went back to Australia, probably.

The director, Robert Connelly presents us with a story that's very plausible. In it, the greedy banker, played with fine assurance by Anthony LaPaglia, wants to be able to get rich with a scheme that is presented to him by the mysterious David Wenham.

Aside from some of the technical aspects of the financial world, it is very entertaining and very nicely acted by all the actors in it.

The quality of films coming out of Australia always amazes me considering the size of their budgets compared to run-of-the-mill "blockbusters" that Hollywood lavishes millions on.

OK, you have to suspend belief a bit to accept that the caper that is the plot of "The Bank" could actually be pulled off -- or could it? But what the hell, if you watch Hollywood films you suspended your belief a long time ago.

This film is a great example of Less is more. No car chases, nobody gets murdered, hardly any sex. All it has is good writing, good dialog, excellent acting, imaginative filming and special effects and music.

And Anthony Lapaglia is just one of the finest actors around these days. Altogether an enjoyable film.

i'd been wanting to see this for a long time, ever since i heard wenham was going to be a chief protagonist (one of my favourite actors). his performance in "the boys" is still up in my top 10.

well, "the bank" was everything i expected and more. all the cast gave top-notch performances, and the believability of the subject remained pretty intact the whole way i thought. anthony lapaglia was great (as usual), although i would of preferred it if he played an australian. i just thought it would of added a bit more intensity. the guy who played wayne davis was also good, especially in the stand-off scene.

after being disappointed with a lot of recent australian films ("risk", "mullet"), this was a refreshing delight. i highly reccommend the dvd as well, as robert connolly's commentary is excellent and one of the best i've heard. i look forward to seeing with what he comes up with next

9/10

This story is along the lines of 'Runaway Jury'. Old injustices take

center stage in the mind of the involved and revenge is the goal.

Well done movie. A refreshing change from the 'shoot'em up'

endless car chases and bullets flying everywhere fare and

buildings being blown to smithereens. Well acted, some intrigue

and the vocabulary was not offensive for the most part. I Highly

recommend this movie to anyone wanting to be entertained by a

solid story line, good acting by a lot of unknowns, to me anyhow. I

still haven't figured out Sibylla Budd's character, very enigmatic. It

was filmed in Australia and Italy according to the Internet Movie

Data Base.

A large corporate bank takes on a young Mathematics PHD boffin who insists that with funds he can fully develop a theory that predicts the movements of the stock market.

Not a bad watch at all, fine acting, a pretty good story and nice cinematography bring together a thoroughly credible piece.

The bank here is the archetypal 'unelected private tyranny' that exist in our times, where they can bully governments, cross borders and refute any kind of ethical principles in the name of greed and profit.

The head of the evil organisation is played very well by Anthony LaPaglia who is utterly convincing and puts in the best performance of the film. In addition, the lead David Wenham is also fairly good and his beautiful love interest Sibylla Budd is not bad either.

I quite enjoyed this movie, each scene looked like a lot of effort had been put into setting it up and directing the actors. The overall feel of the film was very effective for the subject matter but it was missing something that would make it truly memorable and a great film. The ending was not bad but overall the film was just not substantial enough

Worth a watch