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Zone's Eye View of "Bandits" |
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Synopsis of movie, courtesy of MGM: Busting out of prison, Joe (Bruce Willis) and Terry (Billy Bob Thornton) are on the run and out of money. That changes when they devise a scheme to place bank managers under house arrest the night before they rob their banks. But success as the infamous "sleepover bandits" isn't the only change in store for them. As they cross state lines and federal laws, they meet Kate (Cate Blanchett), a sexy, eccentric housewife whose indecision as to which of the two bandits she wants could spoil their partnership for good! Now for The Zone's Eye View By Laura Alber Barry Levinson gives us a much needed comedy/road flick with Bandits. This movie has so many attributes to it, the cast, the plot, the writing, and the photography. The characters are complex yet you can completely associate with all of them. Joe Blake (Bruce Willis) and Terry Collins (Billy Bob Thornton) are inmates in a federal prison. The two are quite opposite, yet they are friends despite their differences. Joe (Willis) is the rough and tough inmate, who will fight anyone, takes no guff, and wants nothing more than to get out of prison. Terry (Thornton) plays a hypochondriac who is convinced he has every disease and allergy known to man. He even believes that just by hearing someone’s symptoms it somehow passes on to him. Terry is phobic about the air, water…just about everything. Both are in prison for armed robbery. One day while walking in the yard with Terry, Joe decides he’s had enough and is ready to leave. So, he sees his chance with an unattended cement truck. He hijacks the truck, Terry running after him to catch up and jump in, and off they go, literally ‘over the river and through the woods’! The escape is successful, and they very soon realize they will need to get some new clothes (since the ones they are wearing say “Inmate”), and money. So, being the bank robbers they are, Joe stops the car and walks in to the first bank he sees. He manages to rob the unsuspecting bank with a yellow highlighter. Terry is frantic, as usual, because there was “no plan”. He is convinced there must be a “plan” for everything for it to work right. Add obsessive compulsive to the hypochondriac diagnosis. The two soon come up with the idea of finding out who the bank president is, and holding him hostage the night before, so they can rob the bank first thing in the morning before the customers or employees arrive. This works well for a while, and after quite a bit of media coverage, some hostages are even ‘honored’ that they were selected! Then, during their hiding out period of two weeks between each robbery in which they split up, Kate (Blanchett) enters into the picture. She is a lonely and distressed housewife who nearly runs Terry over with her car while singing with the radio and crying her eyes out to a gushy song. (This is after her wonderful performance in her kitchen while cooking, and singing along to Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out For A Hero”, a hilarious scene!) Terry asks for a ride to a phone or a motel, since she’s driving about 90 mph and scaring the phobic Terry. She figures out that he is on the run, and decides that she wants to go with him to the rendezvous point because she needs some adventure in her life. Terry does his best to deter her motives, but to no avail. So, the two arrive to find a fuming Joe waiting on the porch. He sees the girl, and immediately starts in on Terry. But, the determined Kate is going nowhere. She wants to be a part of this exciting life for a while. After only a few minutes of talking to Kate, Joe realizes that it may not be so bad, considering she is so beautiful and Joe can’t turn away a lady. Terry is still disgusted and wants nothing to do with Kate except to kill her and bury her body in the back yard! Needless to say, it doesn’t take long for Kate to put Terry under her spell as well, and then both men want her for themselves. All the while, they are still robbing banks as the “sleepover bandits”. All the actors are perfect for this movie. Willis gives us the hard as nails guy with a dash of humor here and there when it’s least expected. Thornton is a laugh riot! The wigs (disguises) are in themselves a masterpiece. He dons a Prince Valiant wig, and a muttonchops look as well. This, coming from a primarily serious actor is amazingly funny. Not to mention his constant worries about the various diseases he’s sure he’s contracted. He carried the humor in the movie for sure. Blanchett is brilliant as the housewife turned accomplice. Rarely do we get to see this side of her, and I for one hope we get to see more of it in the future. Her singing and dancing routine was hysterical, yet I think we can all associate with it! Her need to find “something meaningful” in her boring life is also very common. She pulls all this off without a hitch. Blanchett was the perfect choice for this role. Besides the obvious, writing, casting, directing, etc…this movie had one thing that more movies should strive for. “TIMING” The timing with the dialogue and the action scenes were directed perfectly. It was completely seamless, which is hard to say about most films these days. Bandits is going to be one of those movies that you watch, “just because it’s on”, even if you’ve seen it a hundred times, it’s got the “old faithful” charm to it. It will never go out of style, and it will always be funny, every time it’s watched. The Zone was so very impressed with this movie, and it gives it an 8 out of 10. A definite MUST SEE!!! Actually, RUN to the video store as fast as you can and rent it! Or, for that matter, you might as well buy it, because I can pretty much guarantee you’ll watch it several times!
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