Organnall Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Lucien Lessard Andre Stander (Thomas Jane) is one of the youngest police captains in South Africa. He's a dedicated cop until he killed an unarmed protester in a riot from the line of duty. Then he decides to change his profession by rubbing banks until he's gets caught by the same police force he worked with. Once he's in prison, he becomes friends with two criminals Allan Heyl (David O'Hara) and Lee McCall (Dexter Fletcher). They escaped from prison and they becomes one of the most successful criminals of the early 1980's for a brief moment. Which they become anti-heroes to the city. But there's way of crime is coming to end and crime doesn't pay.Directed by Brownen Hughes (Forces of Nature, Harriet the Spy) made an intriguing film with plenty of action and an refreshing sense of humour. Jane, who originally turned down the role at first. He gives an strong performance. Deborah Kara Unger appears as Stander's wife. This UK/Canadian/South Africa co-production didn't received an large released. But this movie will turned into an Cult Following.DVD has an sharp anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1) transfer and an good-Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. DVD also has trailer and an very informative commentary track by the director. This one of the most interesting true-life crime dramas in awhile. Don't miss it. (****/*****).

rh86 OK so imagine pitching this story to a Hollywood exec. A young police officer flips and becomes his country's most notorious bank robber. Seems rather far fetched but it happened in South Africa in the late 1970s/early 1980s when Police Captain Andre Stander became his country's most famous bank robber and is pretty faithfully retold in this film, although a few details are left out.Thomas Jane excels in the leading role and it's kind of hard to think that this is the same guy who played cardboard cut out Carter in Deep Blue Sea and unlike most Americans playing South Africans (particularly Afrikaners) hits the accent perfectly as does the extremely beautiful and talented Canadian Deborah Kara Unger as Stander's estranged wife Bekkie.South Africa itself makes a fantastic backdrop to the film, from the rich Johannesburg suburbs, the black shanty towns and the wide sweeping landscapes. Against this though however is the grittiness of Stander's crimes and imprisonment filmed brilliantly and the film's standout scene a reconstruction of the 1976 riots which will make your stomach turn. It also stays faithful to the period and the ways of life under Apartheid and if anything shows how a corrupt system can turn it's most loyal subjects.

usenet69 Being a South African and knowing somewhat about the family etc, the movie may have been correct about the aspects of the robberies but the political overtones they tried to make was utter rubbish.Stander was nothing more than a greedy bank robber. He DID NOT ROB the banks to give to the poor little blacks. He robbed the banks and for a considerable amount of time he wasted the money and lived in absolute wealth. He bought expensive cars, boats etc.The director of the movie really tried his best to drag apartheid and political issues into the story but his bad attempts are transparent. The whole story of him going to the father of ONE of the many blacks that he shot during his work at the SAP force was utter rubbish. Then right at the end of the movie, It says where the three robbers are now or what happened to them. THEN. NELSON MANDELA WAS RELEASE OUT OF PRISON. What the hell has that got to do with the whole movie. NOTHING.I hate it if people make use of any excuse to spout their own sick version of politics.

nethlyn I rented this when I was in Ireland for a long weekend and it is criminal, if you'll pardon the pun, that it was not given a proper cinema release in the UK in the summer of 2005 - it got four non-sequential weeks, one of which was in a city-centre London theatre and the others were in the Midlands. Basically someone pulled the plug on it when there was NOTHING to watch in July 2005 and this would definitely have found an audience against the Fantastic Four - even so, I didn't realise it was two years old and and seems to have had some kind of exclusivity period in its native South Africa where it did get a proper release.Knowing this is a real person he's playing, Thomas Jane does a top notch job with both of his south African accents (one Afrikaans, one Zulu), in fact all the non-SA actors do. It's a true story and you may know what happened but that doesn't come close to telling you how well-written, well-directed, well-researched, well-soundtracked, good-looking and well-lit, funny yet tragic this film is. I forgot that Dexter Fletcher was in it, but he's also excellent as the comic relief and it's another top notch project following on from his appearance in UK film Layer Cake at the end of last year, so any British fans of his won't be disappointed. I guess if you wanted comparisons, you would have to combine the original Thomas Crown Affair with Catch Me If You Can and elements of Heat, throwing in some 70s car chases from other classic flicks - and the scenes in all of those films where you are thinking "did this really happen", you will watch Stander and say "My God he really did do that!"The film is excellent, and I'll be buying it as a present for people whenever I can in addition to my own copy, it's terrific and needs support. It did get a release in South Africa though, quite appropriately, but when you see it, you'll see why it should have been released in the UK in July. It'll be a great rental on a Saturday night but since I've been unable to find a soundtrack, this means I will just buy the film so I can watch it a third time. You won't regret it.