Bandit (2022) Film Review

Director: Allan Ungar

Casts: Josh Duhamel as Gilbert Galvan Jr., Elisha Cuthbert as Andrea Hudson, Nestor Carbonell as John Snydes, and Mel Gibson as Tommy Kay

Introduction

Bandit (2022) is a Canadian crime, thriller and drama film directed by Allan Ungar. The film is based on the true life story of Gilbert Galvan Jr. It is an adaptation of Robert Knuckle’s book, The Flying Bandit. Bandit is distributed by Redbox Entertainment. This film runs for 2 hours, and English is the only language used.

Synopsis

After escaping from Michigan prison, Gilbert Galvan Jr. finds a job he does under the disguise of a security analyst – Robert Whiteman. He enjoys doing this job – robbing banks, and it also turns out that he does it exceptionally well. Even though the police are out to get him, he sticks with it because of the pleasure and the reward he receives each time he does this job.

A bit about Bandit (2022)

Bandit film starts in present-day London, on June 12, 1988, with Gilbert Galvan Jr. preparing to do his job. Galvan’s job is to rob banks, and he does it excellently and politely.

Galvan tries as much as possible to confuse the cops after each operation by calling them using different voices to report contradicting information after each function so that they won’t be able to catch him.

Going back four years earlier, Galvan says he grew up poor and the tendency for him to commit a crime was always there. He ends up committing check fraud, and because that kind of offence is non-violent offence, he is sentenced to 18 months in Michigan St. Joseph prison.

Six months into serving his time in the correctional facility, Galvan escapes the minimum security prison and travels to Ottawa, Canada, where he hopes to start a new life.

He takes on the identity of a street beggar Robert Whiteman and uses this Identity to get a job as a popsicle seller on a bike.

He did well in the job and made some money, but after some time, the popsicle company decided to downsize to focus on their trucks. This left Galvan/Whiteman frustrated and with little or no option to make money.

Galvan falls in love with the keeper of the church hostel – Andrea Hudson (Elisha Cuthbert), where he sleeps and takes her as his girlfriend. He needs to feed and take care of his girlfriend, so he heads out West to find greener pastures.

After seeking jobs and could not find any, Galvan finally decides to do what he enjoy doing the most and what he does efficiently – robbing banks.

Review on the Bandit

Let’s start off with the performances of the characters.

Josh Duhamel stars as Gilbert Galvan, whose alias is Robert Whiteman. Josh Duhamel delivers a career-best performance. He is excellent as a master of disguise.

I don’t see anyone impressing as much as he did in this role. Josh Duhamel takes the person of Gilbert, gives life to it and makes him a likeable character in the film.

He displays his charisma and humour in this film. This makes the film much more enjoyable.

Elisha Cuthbert stars as Andrea. She is the caretaker of the hostel where Galvan Jr. sleeps while he works for the popsicle company. She played a good role as a supporting character. She displays lots of emotion on her part, which is impressive.

I also enjoyed the chemistry between both characters, Andrea and Gilbert. It is fantastic.

The makeup artist did a great job trying to make Galvan look different. This is not an easy task, therefore I must commend their effort.

Josh said “sometimes we’d wrap for the day, and I’d still be dressed up. I’d say something like, “No, I’m not taking this off. I’ll take it, and I’ll return the wardrobe tomorrow.”

“I’d simply go wander around Thomasville, Georgia, dressed up as whatever character I was playing that day, and it was so much fun. I’d walk into restaurants I’d frequented, like, across the street from where I live, and they’d recognize me because I was there virtually every day, and I’d be dressed in this clothing and this getup, and they’d have no idea. I’d leave and they’d have no idea because it was so much fun”. According to Screenrant

The transformation sometimes looked funny, but it was good because I guess it was meant to be funny. Galvan’s moustache, hair, and all other things were used in the transformation.

I also liked that the Director tried to make the movie look like the early 90s film. The settings, cars, and so on.

The Director did great with this movie.

I rooted for Galvan even when I knew he was a criminal. I had to pause and ask myself if I was actually rooting for a robber.

What great work was done by the Director and his crew.

I love the songs and sounds used in this film. Sounds play an important role in movies. They help build tension, soothe the actors, convey specific messages, and so on. The sounds used in this film does just that.

Bandit is a bit like Emily the criminal and the famous series Breaking Bad. Just that Bandit has more fun and a few more twists to the storyline.

Fun Facts about Bandit

“There was a day when I was leaving this bank, and I was dressed as a fireman, and it was like 100 degrees in Thomasville, Georgia.” I’m sweating profusely, and she (Elisha) needs to pretend she’s all turned on by what I just did to kiss me. “Cut,” they yelled, and she glanced to her makeup artist and went [retches].” Josh also mentioned that he had never felt less attractive in his life. – As said by Screenrant

Bandit is enthralling, compelling, humorous, and fascinating. I thoroughly enjoyed the film. Because of language profanity and nudity, I suggest it to anybody over the age of 16 who enjoys crime and thriller films.

Similar genre – Fall

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You can watch Bandit (2022) on Apple TV or Prime Video.