Stander

A strong, tense - and politically charged - heist movie highlighted by a great leading performance by Jane and vivid camerawork, especially the handheld bits. Possibly the best of its kind since Heat.

a great dramatization of a true criminal, making him charismatic and seeming like a benevolent rule breaker trying to set the wrongs of his government right. the story takes all the right poetic license, tweaking the actual events just so to fulfill the point of the writer, so it may be inaccurate, but it's emphatically inaccurate.

A stand-out performance by Tom Jane, in one of the better true-crime flicks of recent memory. A cop and a robber, Andre Stander would rob banks in disguise, and question the witnesses later that day. The heists are great fun, and the movie paints an honest portrait of a man who started out fighting the Apartheid, but lost himself in the high-risk high-reward thrills of bank robbery.

decent

Thomas Jane is Andres Stander, a cop turned bank robber who becomes a South African folk hero. I guess it's based on a true story, though little of the film rings true, perhaps because the screenplay is lazy with details and superficial as a character study. Also, this is the type of movie that plays a Bad Company song over footage of bank robbers walking in slow motion and actually thinks it's cool.

Very Good. An apartheid-era disillusioned cop-turned robber blazes across South Africa on the region's greatest crime spree. Excellent performances by Thomas Jane and cohorts, great direction and production values coupled with a fast-paced plot with a subtle social message... This is a great action film with its heart in the right place. Very entertaining. Highly Recommended.

What an incredible pace to this whole thing. Engrossing atmosphere from start to finish, along with fantastic acting.

An underwhelming combination of a real life story and crime drama which contains a solid main performance by Thomas Jane but feels somewhat empty. Any attempts to add depth, especially the direct mentions of Apartheid, seemed out-of-place and underserved.

Hard to find a fault with this politically engaged heist movie. South Africa in the 70's is extremely atmospheric and brooding. Starts off pretty intense and dark, becomes surprisingly entertaining, and ends somewhere in-between. Jane carries the lead role with gusto.

"Be wary of any film that bookends a blistering portrait of social unrest with Skinemax-style sex scenes." - Ed Gonzalez

Very good.

A deft portrayal of an interesting real-life character. Although the veracity of the portrayal is doubtful, it's certainly entertaining, and every part of the production pulls its weight. There's not a weak part.

An odd crime heist film, that always seems to keep the mood light until just around the ending. Thomas Jane proves to be a solid lead actor, but there was never a connection established to his character. It all felt over dramatized and drawn out.