Review #5 The Banker (2020)

So my first Apple TV film review!

The banker is a film directed by George Nolfi about two African-American entrepreneurs in the 1960’s who hire a working class white man to pretend to be the head of their business empire so they can take ownership of banks in America. This helps provides loans to other African American people which were often declined when the banks were previously owned by white men. This film is based on true events and does well in portraying the prejudice towards black men and women in that time period.

CAST & THE ACTING

The films lead role is played by Anthony Mackie and his characters partner is played my Samuel L Jackson. The cast also includes Nicholas Hoult and Nia long. I think the casting team behind this film done very well here and each actor really does justice to their characters. The lightheartedness of Samuel L Jackson’s acting combined with the seriousness, intellect of Anthony Mackie’s character really brought their partnership to life. The rest of the cast perform very well and there isn’t really anything I could criticise with their acting. 

STORYLINE & THE PLOT 

I found the storyline very captivating because as a country I don’t think we learn enough about racism throughout history, which allows us white people in society to become very naive to racism in the present day. So the storyline of two black men beating the system and becoming very rich in a time where racism was so high was really insightful. Especially because they didn’t stop there, they then tried to help other African-American citizens in achieving their American dream as well. So Bernard Garrett and Joe Morris’ story is really well portrayed on screen.

CINEMATOGRAPHY & SPECIAL EFFECTS (8/10)

There wasn’t any special effects in the film and the camera work wasn’t to complicated but that is a good thing because you wanted that to be kept simple in a film like this to keep focus on the story. I will mention the costumes and props because it really did portray the 60’s very well.

OVERALL (7.5/10)

I really enjoyed this film, the acting, the plot, the cast! It was all very good and it kept my interest throughout the whole film. It has both comical elements and serious parts which worked well together. Anyone looking to find this film, they can find it on Apple TV! 

I hope you enjoyed the review.