How To Rob A Bank

 

This review may contain spoilers!

How to Rob A Bank follows a group of mysterious social media influencers who carry out bank heists and radicalise their followers to do the same. As the FBI closes in on this viral crew, we start to see this class war as something personal.

Heist films are some of my guilty pleasures. If there's one genre of film that I have a lot of time for, it's something that involves a crew conducting a series of elaborate thefts. How to Rob A Bank is David Leitch's latest feature, which immediately led me to expect high-stakes action and really zany characters and set pieces. But this is quite different to some of Leitch's previous work; it's certainly not chasing the recent high of Bullet Train or The Fall Guy. This film feels like a movement more than anything; it feels a little angry and rebellious. It's that punk rock singer screaming "Fuck the system" into the microphone at a gig. Because while there's some scattered heart here to connect with, what this film really wants to convey is the injustice that is perpetuated by living in a capitalist society. It really points out how systems like banks and loan sharks exploit the vulnerable to build profits. I think this movie is deeply flawed, but you'd be wrong to say it doesn't spark at least some indignation as a viewer, since you get caught up in the events of the film.

Yet even with that barely contained rage sizzling across this film, How to Rob A Bank still comes away feeling a bit empty. And I'm not just saying that because this is an anti-capitalist heist film funded by Amazon Studios. This film does a really bad job of connecting you with the main characters. In the first half of the feature, we barely get to see beyond the surface of the main criminals. They have a fun chemistry that works well within the heist scenes, but their backstories are held back. I struggled to understand why this was, maybe an effort to preserve the mystique of these characters. But the ultimate result is that a lot of the heart of this film is held back, and we're left wondering who we should be rooting for. This film makes a strange decision to centre the FBI agent and the hacker he has conscripted more than the actual figures of the heist. This means we get a real unwavering black-and-white approach to the film. The heist guys are bad, even if they think they're doing good. The heist guys see the law as a failure because they are tools of the capitalist system. It's a cycle that goes around and rarely results in the audience caring about anyone more. The film ends on an optimistic turn, but it takes a very long time to get there. In fact, the second-to-last scene of the film is a lengthy monologue of exposition, a summary of where everyone is now delivered by the lead FBI agent to his conscripted hacker buddy. How to Rob A Bank knows what it wants to say and how it wants you to feel, but it really struggles with actually making you care and connect with the story delivering that.

Some of that disconnect comes from the characters and the cast themselves. For example, despite being poorly written, the cast of heist members actually winds up being some of the strongest performances in the film. I haven't seen Pete Davidson in much, but he really stands out here. His role of Vince is quite a tough smartass, a veteran and a caring father. He also has the most tragic turn of the film, and I think that winds up being one of the strengths of the feature. Nicholas Hoult is kind of the protagonist here, but it can be hard to remember that. Hoult does these flashy social media promos to camera across the film that are lively and entertaining. But you don't really see the nature of his character till much later. Those tearful moments where you see how crushed he is by the grief of his dead four-year-old son actually reveal Hoult, and I'd probably say secure his performance as one of the best in the film. Throw Rhenzy Feliz in the mix as the lovable hacker/video editor, and you have a pretty good heist crew all up. You even have a good adversary in a slimy bank Ceo, Christian Slater. 

Where things start to go wrong in the film are instances such as I described before, where the FBI angle seems to lead the film. John C. Reilly does his best to hold things together as a grizzled agent who believes in the law and doing the right thing. But he doesn't seem like the perfect pick to play the straight-laced agent at all times. One issue is that he's paired with Zoё Kravitz, who seems wildly miscast as this aloof computer hacker. But the issue goes a bit further: Kravitz and Reilly don't really have enough chemistry to lead as much of the story as they are given. The cop story winning out over the robber story feels like the creatives behind the film don't understand what works in their own creation. I also really felt like this was a bad film for women; none of the main actresses had roles worth their talent. I've spoken a bit about Kravitz being miscast, but the other two lead actresses were essentially defined by their roles as girlfriends/wives. Tati Gabrielle is just the stay-at-home mum/wife for Davidson and their daughter and isn't allowed to express much personality. Anna Sawai plays Emi, who is a part of the main heist crew, though she feels quite removed. Sawai's role in this film is to be Hoult's partner and to be left behind. She gets benched while the boys set out to do the noble final heist. It feels like more time could have been spent with these characters to make something worthwhile.

This film really moves fast when it's a big set piece. Leitch knows how to revel in the action and make the adrenaline pump. Heist sequences absolutely race across the screen from start to finish, and the final heist is an absolute battle of a riot. There's slick car chases to be had, and melancholy final shootouts. The way this film cuts together is really nice; it's like watching film burn and stagger into the next big scene. The social media videos also feel fresh and like they'd function online; it's refreshing to see a film about social media that isn't a little tone deaf as to how social media functions. Yet, when these key aspects of the film aren't front and centre, I found myself being a bit disappointed in the camera work. There's some poor framing and tracking, and dialogue scenes get pretty blocky. Yet I found that Leitch manages to leave a mark of rebellious style on this feature. The soundtrack really serves that feeling of rage, cockiness and awe quite well. Even the inclusion of a Billy Eilish track for our lead sweethearts doesn't jar things too badly. The score isn't as present as I might like, but it has a discordant edge that suits How to Rob A Bank nicely.

A relatively clumsy heist film that isn't without a bit of bite. I would give How to Rob A Bank a 6.5/10.