Product Details

• Actors: David Wenham, Anthony LaPaglia, Sibylla Budd, Steve Rodgers, Mitchell Butel
• Directors: Robert Connolly
• Format: Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English, Japanese
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: New Yorker Video
• DVD Release Date: June 24, 2003
• Run Time: 103 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00008ZL8X
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #73,155 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Bank" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

A good, slick little Australian movie that will provide catharsis for anyone wanting to see the mega-corporations of the world get their just desserts. David Wenham (Faramir from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers) is a computer nerd who swears he's found the right combination of chaos theory and fractal geometry to allow him to predict the rise and fall of the stock market. This widens the piggy eyes of a bank executive (Anthony LaPaglia), who quickly puts the boy genius to work, with all the attendant perks. The movie builds to some nifty momentum in its final reels, and it gives a strong showcase to LaPaglia, the Aussie actor from TV's Without a Trace. His predator's swagger defines his character as a Great White in a pool full of smaller sharks--his speeches to his boardroom are classics of undiluted greed. Watching his comeuppance makes The Bank a gratifying experience. --Robert Horton

Product Description

When a brilliant young mathematician, on the verge of discovering a formula that could predict the fluctuations of the stock market, is hired by a corrupt bank CEO, the two men will play a deadly game of deception and revenge, while initiating one of the biggest banking scandals in history. Set in the fast-paced, ruthless world of high finance, The Bank, starring Anthony LaPaglia (Lantana, Analyze That, and the CBS hit, Without a Trace) and David Wenham (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Return of the King,) The Bank delivers edge-of-your-seat suspense, and takes a hard look at morality in the corporate world as it hurdles towards its unforgettable and shocking conclusion.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Financial Thriller, June 11, 2004

By	Lee Armstrong (Winterville, NC United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

"The Bank" is a tight excellently executed Australian film. David Wenham stars as Jim Doyle, a math wizard that's come up with BTSE, an experimental banking program. Wenham has caught audiences' eye as the transvestite playwright in "Moulin Rouge" and as "Faramir" in the two final "Lord of the Rings" films. Here he absorbs into the role as a brainy math guy whose ultimate tale of revenge has a long burning fuse that pops at the film's stunning climax. The romantic angle comes as he falls for Michelle played by newcomer Sibylla Budd.

Anthony LaPaglia from TV's "Without A Trace" achieves great intensity as the buy & sell businessman Simon O'Reilly whose heart is money. The film's message of corporate responsibility is driven home with the subplot of the bank foreclosing on Wayne & Diane Davis' loan. Blond Steve Rodgers does a nice job as the father bereft by his son's death in a tragic accident as a result of the bank foreclosure. His revenge scene with LaPaglia at the end is brilliantly out of control. Mitchell Butell as the lawyer Stephen does a nice job as the pro bono lawyer who tries to help the couple. This is a first director/screenwriter job for Robert Connelly who keeps the tension flowing, the dialogue pointed & economical, and the visual images of the bank and the lavish home of LaPaglia memorable. This is a small film, but an excellent one, well worth an evening's entertainment. Enjoy!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Tightly Wrought Tale of Greed and Revenge, August 16, 2003

By	Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

THE BANK is another Australian movie that demonstrates how sophisticated 'foreign' films can be. Robert Connolly directs this tale of corruption with breakneck speed, leaving little time for catching a breath much less understanding the heavily accented dialogue (no English subtitles available on this DVD and many conversations are lost because of the thick Aussie accents by some of the actors). Anthony LaPaglia is the devil incarnate and David Wenham as the new PhD in mathematics who can drive LaPaglia's scheming to disastrous ends. Both are excellent as are the other cast members. The music score by Alan Jones is superb (listen carefully to the boys choral writing) and the graphics are top notch. Not a great movie but a thoroughly entertaining, edge of your seat, wizardlike video game - one in which you as viewer can surmise all the moves.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A thriller without violence, April 10, 2007

By	Bob C. Denton - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This refreshing movie is a thriller with no physical violence. The hero doesn't try to win the day by punching or shooting. Instead, he uses his intelligence and creativity. One of the main ideas of the film is that it might be possible to predict the stock market using some mathematical formula. Certainly, there is ongoing research into that area. Various formulas have been tried in the last few years with well publicized results. There is a little mathematical mumbo jumbo in the film which probably adds to the production design, but isn't necessary to understand the film. There is a little bit of Hitchcock in the film including some illogic in the script, but it's enjoyable all the same. Anthony La Paglia does some great acting as the antagonist for whom creating additional profit for a corporation is the only goal. In case you think his portrayal is over the top, rent Enron: The Smartest Men in the Room, a chilling documentary about actions in the Board Room.

Many features of the plot of this film were in The Spanish Prisoner which is also a thriller without violence.