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When a director who was almost totally unknown—Bronwen Hughes, whose biggest claim to fame was a rom-com with Sandra Bullock—walks right into a male-dominated genre and delivers a film that Michael Mann probably should’ve watched at least twice before he made Dillinger, and holds her own against someone like Kathryn Bigelow in terms of sheer quality... well, then I have to present this title as its own thing if you haven't seen it yet. To put it simply, it’s been a while since a movie really gripped me, pulled me into the plot, kept me up half the night Googling real-life events and people, and just left me floored. Basically... this one hits all those marks.
After Michael Mann delivered a decent flop—and I mean a total flop—with Dillinger (I usually love movies with that kind of vibe), I stumbled onto a film with a strikingly similar premise by pure accident. Stander tells the story of Andreo Stander, a young police captain in the South African police force who, after being involved in the bloody crackdown of an anti-apartheid uprising in New York City, decides to start robbing banks out of sheer spite—driven by his belief that the justice system is fundamentally racist and that white guys can basically get away with anything (he was pretty well known for those anti-racist views)... and then he starts coming back to the "crime scene" as an investigator. After pulling off about thirty successful heists, his own people finally manage to trap him, sentencing him to 75 years in prison (which is overkill even by today's standards), only for him to pull off a successful escape a few months later. Doubling down on his criminal streak, Stander quickly becomes Public Enemy Number One, winning over the hearts of regular folks while putting massive pressure on police departments nationwide to just take him out via summary execution because the rest of the world is starting to laugh at their pathetic attempts to bring one guy to justice. The story reaches its conclusion, but I won't spoil too much... just watch it.
There are a few things that make this movie interesting. The film is broken into segments: the first part is almost entirely about Stander's palpable frustration with the things he witnesses as a cop and his slow slide toward the criminal side; the middle section is packed with intensity from the bank robberies, the escapes, and the massive ego of the leads; and the finale slowly drifts into that familiar territory where nothing good lasts forever. But the transitions are incredibly smooth—before you even realize you've shifted moods, you're still being carried along by the emotions of the previous segment. The acting is fascinating, especially Thomas Jane, who seems to be proving with roles like this that he should probably stay away from big-budget productions (like The Punisher or Deep Blue Sea) like a vampire avoids a church... but the support from Deborah Kar Unger isn't bad either. It's precisely directed, with a period setting (the 70s and early 80s) that feels so tangible it's almost a miracle the film is buried under such a thick layer of being underrated. And honestly, it's one of those rare films based on true events that actually gets about 97 percent of it right. There are some cosmetic tweaks in the final act (the actual event itself is shortened by a day or two), but nothing more than that. Almost unbelievable.
If you're into solid crime dramas, decent action sequences, top-tier acting, and a backdrop that tackles controversial issues... well, here's my recommendation.
