By Dan Skip Allen

“How to Rob a Bank” is another in a long line of heist films that have been released over the years. “The Oceans Franchise”, “The Italian Job” original & remake, “Old Man and the Gun” “The Town” and “Heat” are a handful that come to mind. It’s a tried and true crime genre. The newest heist movie takes this genre in a new direction. It’s for the younger audiences and deals with subject matter young couples might be interested in. There is a slick stylish exterior to this story that might appeal to that demographic of people. Using technology and social media is definitely not your grandparents’ or parents’ way of doing things. That’s for sure. David Leitch is known for doing things out of the box, and he does a heist film that way as well.

This film follows a group of bank robbers led by Ryan (Nicholas Hoult), and his team consists of Emi (Anna Sawai) Vince (Pete Davidson), Hugo (Rhenzy Feliz), and among others. They use tick tok videos to record their crimes and broadcast their exploits out to thousands of fans. The series is called “How to Rob a Bank”. Go figure. They explain the ins and outs of how and why they do what they do to thousands of people. Inspiring them to follow in their footsteps. There is a motivating factor behind the reason why they are doing these crimes, though. That’s a spoiler. What I will say is that the money they steal isn’t the reason why they’re robbing all of these banks. 16 or so in all. There is a relatability factor in why they are doing these crimes, whether it’s right or wrong. 

The high-tech way the crimes are scouted out, recorded, and then broadcast is pretty cool. The videos are very slick and fast-paced. Showing all the information in a funny yet informative way. These videos make the people and places they are robbing  look bad because of how easy they make it look. They wear animal masks and crazy looking clothes to disguise themselves so as to not give away their identities. There is another factor in what the reasoning behind the crimes is. They give the money to charities and underdeveloped groups, which makes them into a Robin Hood and his Merry Men to some degree. That’s why they have developed such a large following on social media. They appeal to the masses.

The fast-paced funny videos and slick beginning of this film gave way to a regular type of storytelling as the movie progressed. With there being crimes, there must be people trying to solve those crimes a yin and yang if you will. That leads to a funny but straightforward Agent West (John C Reilly). He has had enough of being made fun of by this gang of bank robbers. He gets mad at his fellow FBI agents for not being able to solve these crimes. One clue found by one of the agents under his command leads them to a woman named Reagan Gardner (Zoey Kravits), who is a felon for cyber crimes. She has developed software that can pinpoint locations using random photos or things in the background of videos to find where criminals are hiding out. So Reilly’s character recruits her to help him find a location where the team of bank robbers are hiding their gear after they escape the scene of the crime. She is a funny character who is always eating something and looks the part of a coder.

The cast in this movie that Leitch has assembled is terrific. Even the smallest role of a bank manager played by Christian Slater is a key character in the overall story. The script gives each of the characters a backstory within the context of the story. You get a feeling that all of these people are real human beings with lives and family and things they genuinely care about. Even the FBI Agent West has a relatable past. Leitch and the writer Mark Bianculli make the audience care about every one of these characters in the film. You genuinely feel bad for some of the situations they are in. I felt bad for how they were treated in the context of the story. It could have been any one of the people watching this film who might have gone through this type of situation. Or have these kinds of struggles in their lives. This was a very relatable story.

As far as the bank robberies and the climax of the film, it’s pretty on par with a Batman film or some big budget heist movie. There is a huge spectacle that is being shown here. The old look here but not here trick is used a lot in this film. There wasn’t a lot of trickery, though, as far as the crimes go. They are pretty straightforward; they have a hacker, a couple of the guys in the group are on the ground in the bank, and a getaway driver is all they really need to accomplish these heists. The end sequence is a little bigger than usual, but the influential aspects of being on tick tok come into full view with their supporters. Chat groups and so forth are used to get the word out of the final heist. This was a different kind of heist film based on real events, but they were completely dramatic iced for film. I won’t get into how this film relates to real events, though. You can look that up yourself to find out about how the film is connected to the real world.

“How to Rob a Bank” was a very entertaining heist film. It has humorous moments and some heartfelt ones as well. The crime aspects were handled with the precision of a pro. Leitch knew how to turn this script into a slick, fast-paced crime film. It never felt slow or had any downtime. The cast, including Hoult, Sawai, Davidson, Reilly, and Kravitz, were all terrific. The characters were as relatable as the story was. The action scenes like car chases and riots were well done. In a world of such problems, this movie is going to be relatable to those who have been struggling or have financial problems. It also shows a world of influences and social media that can affect many people if they are paying attention or looking in the right direction. I genuinely hope this film gets the audience it deserves. It is one of the more original heist movies I’ve seen in recent years. 

🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 stars