59
Metascore
19 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- Thanks to the three strong performances at its heart — especially that of a wisecracking Samuel L. Jackson (who’s also one of the producers) — The Banker often is as entertaining as it is enlightening. It’s “Hidden Figures” with redlining instead of rocket fuel.
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperChicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperThis is a film brimming with essential truth about the events at hand, and it delivers an impactful but also entertainingly resonant message. It’s also a crackling good, emotionally satisfying, old-fashioned thriller, with readily identifiable heroes and hiss-worthy villains.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyThe Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyDespite the recognizably daunting challenges in telling this long-arc story in an entirely coherent way, The Banker spins a surprising and engaging yarn pinned to central elements that made it hard to tell. Its lively, positive spirit helps it over any number of speed bumps, the social backdrops play to its advantage and the top-line cast members pull their weight and then some.
- 70IGNIGNAn accessible, efficiently made but not necessarily invigorating look at finance, reality, and racial injustice in the U.S.
- 63Washington PostAnn HornadayWashington PostAnn HornadayA handsome-looking if occasionally dull affair.
- 59TheWrapWilliam BibbianiTheWrapWilliam BibbianiMackie does a decent job of articulating his anger, and the filmmakers clearly care about the issues, but The Banker doesn’t take the narrative risks necessary to tell its story powerfully. Competence is all we get instead, and competence isn’t quite enough.
- 58The A.V. ClubLawrence GarciaThe A.V. ClubLawrence GarciaJust as it reduces Garrett’s character to a few tenacious traits, the film, in presenting his inspiring story, loses perspective on the broader picture.
- 50VarietyOwen GleibermanVarietyOwen GleibermanYou may wish that you were reading about these events in The New Yorker, because the movie is so choked with neutral detail that it’s a little bloodless. It lacks fire.
- 50The New York TimesManohla DargisThe New York TimesManohla DargisFor a film about the struggles of a black man in America, The Banker spends an awful lot of time on a false white front.
- 50ObserverOliver JonesObserverOliver JonesThe Banker is a sadly facile and largely surface level rendering of a profoundly complex problem that deserves more attention.