agmtw logo
search

Bandidos

Bandidos

5.2

Standard-issue heist hijinks with fun set pieces and an awkward sense of humor

TV Show

Mexico, United States
Spanish
Action & Adventure, Comedy, Crime, Drama
2024

TLDR

If you close your eyes and listen carefully, you can hear Vin Diesel grunt, "Family."

What it's about

A crew of thieves seek the ancient Snake King's treasure while on the run from the law and rival treasure hunters.

The take

With a title as generic as Bandidos, the series is set up exactly how you'd expect: a charming group of antiheroes and weirdos somehow coming together and pulling off improbable schemes while cracking jokes and flirting with each other. There's a reason this formula works, of course, and the show's charismatic cast helps greatly in making this a smooth watch—especially during set pieces that almost always end in narrow escapes. But the series also isn't able to inject enough of its own personality into the story (at least in the first two episodes watched for this review), which when coupled with obligatory, forced romance and uncomfortable jokes constantly made towards a minor, only causes Bandidos to fade into the already oversaturated realm of heist shows and movies with the exact same attitude.

What stands out

These heist stories do tend to be more fun, though, when the heroes aren't master craftsmen or geniuses at what they do, and when their successes involve just a little bit of luck. Bandidos definitely has more of an everyman quality to it than other similar shows whose characters might have an extensive military or police background, and that helps the characters be easier to root for. So during set pieces in which the protagonist has to, say, drop down from a second story ledge, this feels far more consequential because you know they don't have that much literal armor protecting them.

UP NEXT 

UP NEXT 

UP NEXT 

One Hundred Years of Solitude

An ambitious mini-series that succeeds in adapting the classic magic realist novel

8.0

Black Doves

A tale of espionage, romance, and friendship all tied in a neat bow, just in time for Christmas

8.1

Pretend it’s a City

A wildly entertaining series of interviews with a New York legend

9.2

Escape at Dannemora

Based on a true prison escape story, this slow-burn suspense thriller features once-in-a-lifetime performances by a star-studded cast

9.3

The Sticky

Margo Martindale stands out in this true-story-based Canadian maple syrup heist

7.1

Sex Education

Already a future classic, Sex Education is an explicit but endlessly charming teen comedy that will also teach adults a thing or two.

8.9

Feel Good

A charming Fleabag-esque take on LGBTQ+ love

7.0

Lovesick

Heavy on the rom but also the com, this British series is an effortless watch based on an unlikely premise

9.4

The Last Kingdom

8.6

Patriot

This unique anti-spy drama is one of Amazon Prime's hidden gems

9.0

Curated by humans, not algorithms.

agmtw logo

© 2024 agoodmovietowatch, all rights reserved.