How to Rob a Bank

Like Point Break retooled for the era of Luigi Mangione and post-Occupy discontent, David Leitch’s sharp-witted action-thriller comes with a surge of adrenaline and an unexpected political punch. 

You may leave wondering how a film that has one of its lead characters utter an explicit warning to the super rich straight into the camera was even greenlit by the multi-billionaire owner of Amazon – yet it’s at the Jeff Bezoses of the world that How to Rob a Bank aims its punky, insolent energy. 

The ever-excellent Nicholas Hoult is Ryan, ringleader of a gang of Pittsburgh bank robbers called the ‘How To Rob a Bank’ crew. With wolf-mask disguises, do-no-harm weapons handling, clever getaway routes and the desire to perform unnecessary somersaults, they’ve got all the skills needed to prosper and look cool doing it. Plus, one more – editing. The gang aren’t in it for the money but the virality. When they refer to 900 million, it’s clicks not dollars. With handheld cameras and drones, they capture their heists, cut them into pop-art-style videos and post them online with how-to tips and even links to merchandise. They’re not stealing to surf, they have revolution in mind.

With Anna Sawai’s (Shōgun) getaway driver, Rhenzy Feliz’s tech whiz and a soulful Pete Davidson’s army veteran providing muscle, they’re not breaking the mold on heist movie archetypes in a first half that prioritises action and Deadpool-alike quips (Leitch directed Deadpool 2 and it rubbed off). But Mark Bianculli’s script cleverly brings these characters into sharper relief as the net tightens, with emotional payoffs that you don’t envisage as the gang of disruptors outsmart the cops for the umpteenth time.  

They’re not stealing to surf, they have revolution in mind

John C Reilly is as good as he’s been in ages as Agent John West, the FBI man trying to catch these big fish. For very unconvincing reasons, he ropes in Zoë Kravitz’s stoner software whizz to help identify the robbers’ hideout. The sympathetic side of police work, he’s more than mindful of the flaws in a system he’s paid to uphold. The pair have a lot of fun together; Kravitz getting the most from her thinly sketched character.

Leitch is the filmmaker behind Atomic Blonde and Hobbs & Shaw, whose partnership with fellow one-time stuntman Chad Stahelski gave us John Wick, and he’s rarely happier than when someone’s getting thrown through a windscreen. The action sequences, including at least one entirely superfluous but brutal fight scene and a couple of wild car chases, are strong.

But this is a well-made movie from top to bottom, and it’s a lot less ambivalent about its politics than The Dark Knight Rises, with which it shares striking parallels. At one point, John C Reilly’s FBI man jaws about how Point Break influenced his decision to go into law enforcement. ‘Me too,’ says Kravitz. ‘I wanted to rob banks.’ The choice feels a lot more slanted in this one.

In cinemas worldwide Fri Nov 13.