Bandit (2022)
There are multiple reasons why most of us have never robbed a bank: there’s a pretty good chance of getting caught, prison isn’t a wonderful place to spent 10-20 years, and, occasionally, bank robbers get shot and killed in the process. But, turns out, that wasn’t always the case, and specifically not in Canada.
In the 1980s, Gilbert Galvan Jr escaped from a medium security prison in Michigan, high-tailed it into Canada, and eventually decided to try his hand at robbing banks there. What he quickly learned was that bank employees and security guards in Canada are much more polite than in the states. Tellers refrained from placing dye packs or pressing silent alarm buttons simply because Galvan asked them nicely not to, while security guards were more concerned with making sure no one got hurt than stopping a robbery in progress.
BANDIT is based on Galvan’s biography, who in the 1980s held the record for the most consecutive bank and jewelry store robberies (59) until he was caught by a task force dedicated to finding him. Galvan avoided capture for so long by wearing elaborate disguises and flying back and forth across the country to rob banks far away from where he lived, giving him the real life nickname “the Flying Bandit.”
Josh Duhamel plays Galvan perfectly, keeping the anti-hero likeable. The chemistry between Duhamel and his girlfriend/wife Andrea (Elisha Cuthbert) is palpable, as her personal morals clash with the man she has fallen in love with. Nestor Carbonell (Richard from “Lost”) plays John Snydes, head of the task force dedicated to taking down the bandit, while the local underworld kingpin is portrayed by Mel Gibson, the man bankrolling Galvan’s adventures.
At two hours the film drags a bit in places and there’s not as much action as one might think in a film about bank heists, but it’s an entertaining watch that’ll have viewers rooting for the bad guys… even the nice ones.
Although Galvan reportedly netted more than $2 million from his string of robberies, police were never able to track down any of the money, which Galvan claims to have spent.