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Parents' Guide to

Bandit

By Brian Costello, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 15+

Language, drugs in excellent true-crime thriller.

Movie R 2022 126 minutes
Bandit Movie Poster

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

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age 12+

Based on 1 parent review

ADelight
ADelight Parent
October 9, 2022
age 12+

Robert is/was a good man.

This movie caught my attention immediately. It's playful but not silly and will have you hoping the "robin hood" of the story gets away. I'm happy to see more movies such as this one, coming out with more goodness and less violence. It's a movie I would take my child to, for sure.

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models
See all 1 parent review

What's the Story?

In BANDIT, Gilbert Galvan Jr. (Josh Duhamel) has just escaped a minimum-security prison in Michigan. He manages to sneak across the border into Canada, where he soon changes his identity to Robert Whiteman to get a job selling popsicles on a bike. He soon meets and charms Andrea (Elisha Cuthbert), who runs the homeless shelter where Whiteman has been staying. They soon fall in love, but with Whiteman unemployed again, he must find a way to provide. Desperate, he starts figuring out the best ways to rob banks and get away with it. It doesn't take long for Whiteman to discover that he has an incredible talent for robbing banks, and will eventually rob 59 banks all over Canada. Meanwhile, a law enforcement task force is starting to close in, and Whiteman must rely on a no-nonsense old-school crime boss named Tommy (Mel Gibson) to help watch his money. A bond forms between Tommy and Whiteman, and as Andrea is now past the point of suspecting that the money Whiteman is making is coming from disreputable sources, Whiteman must find a way to pull off one last heist so that Whiteman, Andrea, and their newborn daughter can escape Canada before Whiteman is thrown in prison.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1 ):
Kids say (1 ):

While treading in familiar cat-and-mouse territory, this is still a true-crime thriller that's actually thrilling. Bandit is over two hours long, but the balance between the action and the story is so solid that it's easy to get lost in what's happening. Based on a true story, our "hero," played with charming gusto by Josh Duhamel, robs 59 banks in Canada, but the robberies aren't especially violent, and there are even some laugh-out-loud moments in how polite and Canadian the interactions are between the robber and tellers. There are a couple of moments of gratuitous nudity and violence, but on the whole, the action remains focused on the characters.

Again, it's a familiar-enough story of determined law enforcement pursuing a brilliant and elusive criminal, but the fun of it is that there's also some exploration of whether an anti-hero is born bad or if it's society's fault. Bandit takes a clear side in this debate at the outset, placing the action against the backdrop of the 1980s and Reaganomics (even though it's set in Canada, but never mind). As the movie progresses, some cracks in this viewpoint emerge, but Bandit is at its best when the story takes full advantage of that murky territory between heroes and villains.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about "cat and mouse" true-crime thrillers like Bandit. How is this similar to and different from other movies centered on mastermind criminals who are being doggedly pursued by law enforcement?

  • This movie is based on a true story. What would be the challenges in adapting a true story into a feature-length dramatization?

  • Does the movie glamorize Whiteman's bank robbing spree? Does the explanation of 1980s economic problems, particularly for the less fortunate, justify what he did? Why, or why not?

  • There's an enduring appeal for outlaws like Whiteman in movies and the popular imagination. Why do you think that is?

Movie Details

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