Once in a while, you come across a movie people have blatantly ignored, not because it’s not good, but because it’s not the flashiest on the block. That’s exactly the kind of movie The Banker is. When the movie dropped in 2020, it didn’t uproot any trees. No superhero landings or big shout speeches cut for trailers. Just guys you’ve seen save the world a few dozen times doing things completely differently over the course of 120 minutes.
It’s kind of funny when you think about it, considering Samuel L. Jackson, Anthony Mackie, and Nicholas Hoult are about as A-list as it gets. We’re used to seeing Mackie and Jackson dressed in big trench coats, tight spandex, and shiny armor, and while Hoult is better known today for his role as Lex Luthor in DC’s Superman, he gave a brilliant turn as a young Beast/Hank McCoy in Marvel’s X-Men movies. In The Banker, however, these Marvel stars trade those outfits for sharp mid-century suits, and instead of superhero-driven spectacle, we get something quieter and, dare we say, smarter. Which is just as well, because The Banker is more interested in telling you a cool story, with a handful of uncomfortable parts thrown in. And perhaps that’s why it didn’t blow up, especially for viewers who expected literal blow-ups because of the actors involved.
‘The Banker’ Examines Racism Without Big, Dramatic Speeches
Beyond the star power, The Banker distinguishes itself in its approach to racism. Most movies about racism, like the classic Mississippi Burning or the more recent Till, build towards that one big, explosive moment where a character confronts the brutality and injustice of racism through a tearful monologue. But not The Banker. The racism here is mainly manifested in the way a door closes in your face, or in the paperwork that mysteriously gets “lost”. It’s even in who gets listened to in a meeting and who gets talked over.
Mackie’s Bernard Garrett knows the game is rigged before he even walks in. The Avengers star plays Bernard with a tight, quiet strength. You can see that he’s furious and frustrated, but he doesn’t let the white folks he’s dealing with see him lose his cool. If you’re wondering why, it’s because losing his cool means losing his deal. Every insult he swallows is a calculated risk, and somehow it makes the injustice he endures feel heavier.
Jackson’s Joe Morris is also playing the same rigged game, but his style is entirely different. He’s smoother, enjoys his cigars, and has no problem with upsetting the people in power. However, one thing you’ll notice is that Joe has none of that fiery energy that’s Jackson’s trademark. The confidence here is sort of quieter, wearier, you know, the kind that comes from fighting to survive in a world that’s actively invested in ensuring you don’t.
This is precisely where Hoult’s Matt Steiner comes in. He’s integral to that survival because he’s well… white. But the movie is quite smart in the way it deploys Matt. It doesn’t pretend he’s some whiz or financial genius. Far from it. In fact, Bernard tells him what to say, and Joe teaches him how to act. And yet, when he walks into the bank, he’s treated like the smartest guy there (P.S.: he isn’t).
Those scenes do the real heavy lifting. Watching Bernard, the actual mastermind, sitting quietly in a corner while Matt, the frontman, signs the paperwork, is a brutal lesson in who gets the credit. Power flows to the person the system is built to recognize, and not necessarily the person doing the work. And the movie trusts you to get the gist without hitting you over the head. That subtle approach is pretty brave, but as has been proven time and again, it has its downsides. Without those big, dramatic moments, it feels like nothing’s happening. The racism is bureaucratic, mundane even, which is how things work in real life. And real life, unfortunately, doesn’t always go viral.
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The Banker’s Ending Is Not Satisfying, and That’s Why It Works
If you want to get technical, it’s fair to say that The Banker had every chance to turn into a feel-good triumph for the good guys, because, let’s be honest, it had the tools. We’re talking about the smart underdogs in Bernard and Joe, the clever plan to have Matt as the front man willing to do the bidding of the brains behind him, and the early wins that make you pump your fist. But the film sticks closer to reality, especially when they take the operation to Texas. The mood changes without warning, and the unease just…seeps in.
People start to notice Matt. No, not in an “I’ve got you” kind of way. It evoked more of a “hmm, something’s off here” feeling. First of all, he doesn’t quite talk like a big shot banker. And he makes a few sloppy mistakes, the kind someone who’s earned his position almost never makes. The final nail in the coffin comes when a bank executive discovers the bank is giving loans to black families, digs into it, and activates the system. The system, which the people in power designed to protect white interests, doesn’t need to cheat to win. It just enforces the existing rules. What makes the whole collapse so effective is how ordinary it feels. There are no spectacular car chases here, we’re presented with small errors piling up, and Matt, wanting to prove he’s more than a puppet, ends up drawing the wrong kind of attention.
Then there’s Bernard’s big courtroom moment, which hits hard because it’s not the usual victory speech we see in movies like this, and the guy is just asking for a fair shot. All in all, the movie doesn’t even pretend that being reasonable is enough to win. The final part of the story really seals the deal. It ends on a quiet, uneasy note that suggests escape rather than victory, with the bigger system they were fighting left firmly in place. For fans used to seeing these guys in movies where good definitely triumphs over evil, the ending might feel incomplete, but that’s what makes it honest.
So, if you skipped this movie because it was too honest or too quiet, go and watch it on Apple TV+. Watch these Marvel stars team up for history, not just for heroics, and tell us what you think.
