A biopic of Andrew Stander, a man who committed one of the biggest bank robberies in the history of South Africa with his team after serving with the Police and being promoted as the youngest Captain of his force. Set during the time of apartheid, Stander is both brutal and fun in equal measure.
Having recently married, life looks to be improving for Stander and his colleagues. Nelson Mandela is in prison, the ANC are being held back and drowned out, and the White South Africans are controlling the country. Martial law and racial prejudice seems to run rife within most of the squaddies, with little sympathy garnered for the black South Africans that are fighting not only for their freedom, but to remove the invaders of their country.
During a tense stand off, the force is gathered, and confront a large demonstration. Whereas the crowd are fighting with fists, sticks and stones, the force have armed themselves with protective head gear, shotguns, rifles and tear gas. The odds are not in the favour of the blacks, who are massacred and shot to death at the hands of the unscrupulous few who do not wish to return power. Amongst those fighting is Stander, but unlike the rest he hesitates, not wanting to cause any harm to anyone. Then out of the blue a black man comes running at him, and without a thought Stander shoots him dead – this unleashes an animal brutality in him that release his fury in the form of more shells on the blacks that approach him.
Guilt ridden and broken down, he is disillusioned and disgusted at the trigger happy nature of his force and his colleagues. Their lack of judgement, and his own regret and hatred at what he has done places Stander in a position where weighing the odds, he feels fighting against the law would bring him greater hope than fighting with it. So, he goes to work and starts robbing. Small change at first, but then things start to escalate, and understanding the system he once worked for, he’s always one step ahead of everyone else. But the only problem is his best friend in the force, who’s after the perpetrator, as Stander tries to trick his colleagues by diverting their attentions elsewhere.
This is the second film with Thomas Jane I’ve seen, the first being The Punisher which wasn’t all that good. In this, however, his performance is exceptional. He’s funny, concerned, angry, desolate – able to express a range of emotions that he couldn’t in The Punisher. Jane has some great, great acting ability and it would be fantastic to see him make more films like this – roles with strong, character developed roles because there’s no question that a film The Punisher does this man no justice whatsoever. I’m really looking forward to seeing this promising actor in more solid performances.
Deborah Unger plays Standers wife, and although she doesn’t get much of a role, she plays the performance rather averagely in all honesty. Her sympathy and personal conflict as to her husband’s behaviour is mostly unconvincing, and her accent is also about average. Credit to her for her looks though, as someone hitting her 40s she is in exceptional shape, and still looks great. It would have been nice if she had a bigger role, or perhaps if they replaced her with someone else, but I can’t think off the top of my head who. In any case, her performance is underwhelming.
Stander is a good film, I’m holding back from saying its great because it has quite a few flaws. Being a Hollywood spin on reality, there are many areas about Stander that are not covered, such as his religious conflict and how it affects his personal conflict – the killing of the boy results in his moral dilemma in the form of both his conscience and his belief, but the latter is not covered. I think it would have added another layer of depth to his character, that perhaps it could do with. No discredit to Jane, he had one of the best performances I’ve seen for a male lead this year, but there was still something lacking. Did anyone else notice how he resembles Christopher Lambert in some scenes? Also much credit to Marius Weyers as General Stander, Andrew’s father, in really excellent form and plays is part as the concerned but loving father with grace and brilliance.
I enojoyed the sophistication with which the direction of the film and cinematography were handled, almost, throughout – it is glossy, and slick, but it’s done with a style that isn’t often seen in Hollywood. At times, however, it comes across as far too very familiar, and the most notable comparison would Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels with regards to the robberies and Starsky & Hutch for the music, clothes and on car cameras.
There’s an obvious sense of the unoriginal in some of the robbery scenes and the dynamic between the three thieves, but fortunately it’s not in that same boat for two long. The performances of his two accomplices are also excellent, in the form of Dexter Fletcher as Lee McCall and David O’Hara as Allen Heyl. You have to feel sorry for Fletcher though, as he seems a little typecast. Going back to the Lock, Stock comparison, it sometimes feels if he’s playing, if not the same role, then a performance in a similar film. Still, he’s come a long, long way since the days of Press Gang and Games Master; he’s likeable and plays his nervous, tetchy but lively character very well.
It’s interesting to note that the director, Bronwen Hughes, has a background in romantic comedies rather than something as serious as this. It’s a credit to her direction and her control that this has come off as well as it did, with Hollywood glamour, but tight direction without looking too Hollywood. The settings, the situations, the performances all gel really well together.
At times Stander does play quite slowly, and I admit there were times where I was getting a little bored. Some scenes that try to accentuate drama and back story often feel too ambiguous to convey any such thing, and come across as fillers rather than requirements. I would have preferred more depth to the characters too, but it isn’t to be. The script is also a little flaky at times, suggesting a fleshing out and lack of ideas in some of the scenes; in this regard these are major flaws that mark the film down for me by several notches as they should, and could, have been remedied with more stringent control.
If you’re American, then you’ll probably need subtitles. Americans often find it harder to understand thicker accents, and in this you may struggle without the subtitles. With regards to accents, Thomas Jane and Debra Unger do a fair job, they’re not thoroughly convincing, and Unger feels the more forced of the two, but they’re not bad. Of course if you’re Dutch or South African you’ll be able to provide a more definite answer on whether the accents are good, but I’m just going by what I know and of the accents I’ve heard from people I’ve met. Every other non-South African also fairs well enough, I guess, but it’s not an off putting factor and you just have to suspend disbelief for two hours and get into the spirit of it.
The weakest part of the film is the ending. In real life, the ending was not so ironic, and it’s the obvious Hollywood writers saying we need something much more interesting than what really happened. I think if they took the existing reality and shot it with some degree of intelligence, they could have successfully provided a suitable ending. Instead what we get is a predictable map to what is going to happen. It’s very, very unsatisfying, and in my opinion, ruins the film as a whole. It will perhaps determine just how much you like this film. I know many that liked the poetic justice ending, but for me, it was just far too easy to get away with something like that. Of course, I won’t spoil it for you, but be prepared for quite a bad ending (this way if it’s really bad you won’t be disappointed, and if you like it, it’ll make it feel better than it is).
Stander is in essence a very solid film, with an outstanding and gritty performance from Jane, and a mostly supportive cast behind him. The film does have some teething issues, so if you’re not the patient type you may find the film too boring to finish, but on the whole, with the exception of a few important issues, it’s actually a really good film. I would say that nearest comparison to this film may be Michael Man’s original LA Takedown or Heat, with some changes here and there. It’s a lot less action than either of those two, and a more technical and polished film, but it’s no less entertaining and certainly one to watch, and more than worthy of purchase.
Verdict: Flawed, but enjoyable crime drama with an electrifying performance from Thomas Jane. A sleeper hit.