Review of Bandits

Introduction

Bandits is based (extremely) loosely on the true life story of the ‘Sleepover Bandits’, a pair of bank robbers who, instead of dealing with all the fuss a hold-up can bring, kidnap the bank managers the night before and hit the bank in the morning. The impeccably casted trio of Bruce Willis (tough guy Joe), Billy Bob Thornton (neurotic brains of the operation, Terry) and Cate Blanchett (eccentric housewife and love interest Kate) follows on from other high-profile robbery movies Heist and The Score. What sets Bandits apart though is the quirky sense of humour, a strong romantic subplot and a suprisingly effective twist at the end…

Video

The picture is superb, near flawless. The main feature is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen, and has great colour reproduction, accurate fleshtones and a high level of detail throughout.

Audio

The 5.1 soundtrack is very good, if not excellent. Dialogue is clear and, whilst this is not really an action movie, there is plenty of scenes that make good use of surround effects. Overall 8/10.

Features

MGM have provided us with a fine set of extras here. First up is the commentary with the three main stars, director Barry Levinson and other collaborators. A little disappointingly, the commentary seems to have been edited together rather than recorded with all the stars in the room. However, it still remains informative and goes into plenty of detail about the production of the film, although it lacks the sheer entertainment a commentary with all commentees together would bring.

Next up are the deleted scenes – four of them. Although it is quite easy to see why they have been cut – they would slow the pace down way too much – these omissions are great to watch, especially the first scene which runs in at 7mins long and is almost a whole subplot in itself. The alternate ending is provided with or without Cate Blanchett commentary.

The first of the two featurettes is entitled ‘Inside Bandits’. Ignoring all possible innuendo here, I’m pleased to say that this is not a piece of promotional fluff but is a substantial documentary on the making of the film, running in at 21mins long. The 6min long Script to Screen Worshop breaks down the making of ‘The Bed Scene’, and deals particularly with the improvisation involved.

Finally, there is a trailer and a soundtrack advertising spot.

Conclusion

Bandits pleasantly surprised me – I was not sure what to expect but the warm story of mismatched criminals and the offbeat humour won me over. As would be expected from Barry Levinson (who directed the marvellous Rain Man and cult hit Diner), the characters are well-developed and likeable. The fine set of extras on this disc make me recommend this title highly for a very entertaining night in front of the TV.