Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
After escaping a Michigan prison, a charming career criminal assumes a new identity in Canada and goes on to rob a record 59 banks and jewellery stores while being hunted by a rogue task force. Based on the true story of The Flying Bandit.
Bandit is a breezy, watchable crime-thriller based on the wild true story of Robert Whiteman (The Flying Bandit), and Joshua Zeman's film leans into the charming-rogue tone with reasonable success. The plot is engaging enough — a serial bank robber operating across Canada — though it hits familiar heist-movie beats without much structural surprise. Josh Duhamel commits to the lead role with energy and likability, but the supporting cast (including Mel Gibson and Nestor Carbonell) is underutilized, keeping the acting solidly average. Cinematography is functional and unremarkable, shot with a serviceable but uninspired TV-movie aesthetic that fails to elevate the material visually. The true-story premise and the sheer audacity of the real events give the film a certain novelty — 59 robberies is a genuinely singular hook — but the execution doesn't fully capitalize on it. The ending feels rushed and anticlimactic, wrapping up the real-life consequences without the dramatic weight the story deserves.