The Bank (2002)

Simply Perfect

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

When I first decided to watch 'The Bank', I really new very little about it, only that got some pretty good reviews and had two of Australia's finest actors in it. Afterwards, I can say that it offers a very well structured and acted piece of work, with a very neat twist towards the end.What is most important about this film, though in many ways it is a mystery, is it's focus on greed, and how incredibly focused one has to be in the business world. Wenham, who plays the part of a brilliant mathematician who has developed a formula for anticipating the stock market, is constantly challenged by the 'banks' CEO into forgetting all morality for a buck.Overall, there's a great deal of great characterizations in this fine tale, but revealing anything else about the flick would probably ruin it for most, so all I can say is that I recommend it to anyone who can find it.

This is an Australian suspense thriller about a mathematician, Jim Doyle, who develops a new theory based on chaos analysis that will enable a user to predict just about anything. A senior banking executive, Simon O'Reilly, gets a hold of the news and hires Jim to work for them, to develop a system that will predict financial markets.Jim is altruistic - he wants to predict market collapses so that regular people can react in time. Simon sees a way to get rich. Simon is also one of those Gordan Gecko types who sees himself as part of the new feudal lords of capitalism, a member of the elite whose duty he sees as crushing the opposition.This is a pretty clever film and I want to be careful not to give away the ending. You can sort of see it coming, but the actor playing Jim, David Wenham, is so under control that he doesn't give away a thing. You might recognize Wenham from his role as Faramir, Boromir's brother in the second installment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. His acting makes this film succeed.Anthony LaPaglia plays the ruthless banker, Simon, and he manages to make himself hateful for the audience. Sibylla Budd also plays the love interest of Jim very well (she has a deliciously sly smile).Short on elaborate production values, but the story and the acting make this film exciting and one I'd recommend.

The film starts with a schoolclass where a bank manager explains that if you would save $ 0.50 a week in 25 years you would have amassed $ 727.000.This is so wrong, you'ld need to get 62.018 % interest to get there.People like that shouldn't be talking about mandelbroth functions and fractals.

Greed is at the core of this film. It's incredible how money can corrupt people to the point that it will make them do things that ultimately, they will live to regret. It was a surprise to see this Australian film that only played a couple of weeks in New York. It's a much better picture than some of the very highly regarded ones that came out just about the same time and are still around, while this one went back to Australia, probably.The director, Robert Connelly presents us with a story that's very plausible. In it, the greedy banker, played with fine assurance by Anthony LaPaglia, wants to be able to get rich with a scheme that is presented to him by the mysterious David Wenham.Aside from some of the technical aspects of the financial world, it is very entertaining and very nicely acted by all the actors in it.