Evil Genius: The True Story of America's Most Diabolical Bank Heist, Netflix review – a bizarre, grim story that sticks in the mind
On the 28th August, 2003, Brian Wells, a 46-year-old pizza delivery driver, walked calmly into a branch of the PNC bank in Erie, Pennsylvania, carrying a shotgun disguised as a walking cane and with a bomb strapped round his neck. He passed a rambling note to the cashier explaining that the bomb would go off unless he was given $250,000.
The cashier handed over all the available money, only around $8,000, and Wells walked out of the bank as calmly as he had entered. Police found him nearby soon afterwards and handcuffed him. Footage from the time shows him sitting on the ground next to his car, explaining that he is a hostage and must keep following the instructions given to him by his assailants or he will be killed. With the bomb squad just moments away, the device went off, killing Wells instantly.
This is the opening to Evil Genius: The True Story of America's Most Diabolical Bank Heist, a new four-part documentary on Netflix that follows the police as they try to piece together the extraordinary plot leading up to the explosion. Made by Mark and Jay Duplass, the producers behind Wild Wild Country, Evil Genius sits squarely in the "intense docudrama" format with which the network has had so much recent success.
The first episode details the event itself, before the focus shifts to explore the whys and wherefores. It is clear the detectives made plenty of mistakes in the immediate aftermath. Following the instructions he had been given, a detective saw a car approach across a field and then retreat. To remove the remnants of the bomb, they decided to decapitate Wells's corpse where it lay. "More respect was shown for the explosive device than Brian's body," said his sister in a statement.
With each new detail the case grows more bizarre. The plot that emerges is straight from a Hollywood thriller, thick with murder, sex, revenge and inheritance. At its heart is a brilliant and insane woman called Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong, who drew the men around her into an increasingly outlandish conspiracy. She died in prison last year, while her co-conspirator Kenneth Barnes continues to serve a 45-year sentence.
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Despite the gripping subject matter, Evil Genius fails to escape the Netflix trap of being at least a third too long. Neither does it entirely avoid the sensationalism it criticises. The case attracted international media attention largely because of the grim footage, which was more shocking at a time when camera phones were just coming into widespread use.
That astonishing film still lies at the heart of this story. What sticks in the mind after the credits roll is the sound of the beeper going off on the device around Wells's neck, and the sight of his face as he realises what it means.
