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.

It's obvious that the screenwriter/director doesn't much like banks - and not many people do. You're only likely to get friendly attention from them when you have large sums of money to deposit, otherwise you are regarded as one the pests they have to put up with to get enough of the aforementioned type of customer - and they take sizeable fees from you for the privilege. The screenplay here is at its best when fuelling that perception, particularly by the attitudes of the bank's CEO, here portrayed (unnecessarily) as an American being pressured by the bank's directors to make higher profits (having closed most of the branches to achieve that wasn't enough). The guy is greed-driven and doesn't care about people. We get two cases of people's lives being ruined by the bank's loan foreclosures. So far so good. But some things don't quite square with reality - the mentality of bankers generally is not suited to gambling and a CEO isn't likely to test a mathematics whizzkid's theories with real money right at the start. It's improbable that a bank's board would agree to a gamble involving the bank's entire capital. Could the mathematics whizzkid really hide a previous identity so easily, and his real motivation as revealed at the end doesn't go with the ethical disinterest he shows throughout. But the film is very good on a technical level - the science presented (generally) suspends disbelief superbly, the characters are credible, acting passable and the editing is excellent. My acid test of a good film is whether it holds my attention throughout and this film certainly does that. 8 out of 10.

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

Go and rent The Bank!

This movie was a great surprise for me. The contrast between LaPaglia and Wenham is very believable. LaPaglia's Simon in his expensive suits and $100 haircut in stark contrast to Wenham's Jim in a leather jacket and unkempt hair. I found myself talking to the characters, from calling Simon (LaPaglia) a dirty bastard, to rolling my eyes at Jim (Wenham) and calling him a sell-out. The Bank really held my "interest" and gave a nice "payoff" in the end with a great twist.

A great movie if you like the David and Goliath-type of movie.