Die Bankrower

Anton is the son of a wealthy bank owner. He has many risky ideas to make and invest money. His father, however, wants nothing to do with these plans and Anton, therefore, decides to demonstrate the viability of his ethos by stealing money from his father's bank and doubling it at a casino.

I bought this off ebay more than a year ago mainly because of the cast. it's a good premise for a film and has some good acting. What helps is the shocking plot twist involving Cobus Rousseau which puts all predictability into disarray. In many senses it's Cobus Rousseau's film here and he towers above everyone with his role as a slimy pimp looking blackmailer.

What let's the film down for me is some of the humour and at times a laziness involving the plot. The comic relief is too ridiculous and mismatches the seriousness of the rest of the film by too much. All the characters are one-dimensional and despite the bank-robbing son's dubious ethics things are just accepted. Rousseau's character is the villain but looking at things more closely you have to wonder why exactly he is more of a villain than Weyers.

What makes this worthwhile is the pacing, the acting, and what is a very interesting plot even though it is not the most original or well-executed. This is available for import from South Africa and also some copies crop up on Ebay though both without subtitles.