'How To Rob A Bank' Review: A Ferocious And Propulsive Blast
After delivering big budget, crowd-pleasing hits like Deadpool 2 and Bullet Train, director David Leitch is back with his latest feature How To Rob A Bank, a ferocious and propulsive thriller that may just be his best film yet.
‘How To Rob A Bank’ centers on a social media-savvy band of thieves who broadcast their robberies online as they aim to strike back at a financial system they feel is unjust and predatory. Naturally, due to the virality of their content and their crimes at large, they attract the attention of the F.B.I., more specifically an agent named Agent West (John C. Reilly) who teams up with a cyber criminal under house arrest named Reagan Gardner (Zoë Kravitz) to track these thieves down and bring them to justice before it’s too late. Rounding out the crew of thieves at the film’s center are Nicholas Hoult, Pete Davidson, Anna Sawai, Rhenzy Feliz and Tati Gabrielle.
David Leitch’s films have always remained entertaining, but have skewed more cartoonish and over the top with each subsequent offering. Fortunately, he is far more more interested in telling a more grounded story here albeit with plenty of his trademark panache and charm. From the opening scene alone, the energy is infectious and enveloping, hooking the viewer immediately and showcasing the polished and playfully edited content this crew of thieves has been making to make themselves such a beloved online sensation. These sequences are edited exceedingly well, put together with meticulous detail and style, feeling quintessentially Leitch in every way, shape and form. The film overall is able to maintain the same propulsive momentum, especially as the F.B.I. begins to narrow their search and is hot on the heels of the thieving wolf pack.
It also wouldn’t be a Leitch film without a bevy of action set pieces and thankfully they do not disappoint in the slightest. What makes these action sequences stand head and shoulders above what he’s done previously is the reliance on practical stunts and more old fashioned filmmaking, relying far less on CGI implementation and more on well-constructed stunts and bombastic flourishes that make the action feel significantly more tactile and immersive. There are several chase sequences that are wonderfully staged and shot, delivering the visceral, high-octane thrills audiences deserve with a sprinkling of winning humor to boot. Leitch’s more comedic sensibilities are thankfully more restrained here, using it sparingly and effectively to relieve tension at the right waypoints in the story.
It also helps that Leitch has assembled an all-star cast to populate this gritty crime thriller. Hoult is smooth as silk here, channeling his inner Steve McQueen as Ryan, the leader of the pack, executing each viral video and robbery with the steady confidence and magnetism that makes him electric to watch on screen. He’s never played a character quite like this before, showcasing an untapped portion of his range as an actor, a portion that could easily land him grittier, more action heavy roles if he desired. Davidson is also a standout as Vince, one of Ryan’s right hand men and closest friends, delivering easily his best performance to date as he delivers his trademark comedic prowess and more emotionally charged work as his personal life is slowly unveiled to the audience.
However, it’s the pairing of Reilly and Kravitz that is the film’s most surprising secret weapon. On paper, the pairing of the two actors seems quite bizarre and mis-matched, but in practice, the two of them light up the screen together. Reilly and Kravitz have incredible chemistry, bouncing off one another wonderfully as they begin to work together and slowly start to chip away at the walls each of them has firmly put up in front of the other, discovering they may have more in common than they each realize. Their scenes together are some of the film’s finest and most entertaining, Reilly rightfully playing the role straight with prickly charm as Kravitz effectively conveys Reagan’s shellshock as she must step out from behind her computer in order to aid the investigation.
The film also does an admirable job fleshing out the motivations of Ryan and his band of merry thieves, giving the majority of the crew enough depth and exploration to allow the audience to understand why they’ve chosen this precarious lifestyle for themselves and dedicated themselves to their cause. This creates the emotional bedrock of the film, allowing this tale to feel like far more than just entertaining, but hollow popcorn entertainment for the masses. In particular, the exploration of Ryan and his significant other played by Sawai is quite emotionally potent, the film peeling back the curtain just enough to make them worth emotionally investing in.
However, not everything clicks perfectly into place. The eat the rich, Robin Hood inspired narrative and social commentary aren’t exactly executed with a nimble hand, veering far more into heavy-handed territory with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. The social commentary itself is certainly timely, condemning the banking system and its fraudulent and predatory behaviors and practices, but it’s hardly revelatory and unfortunately isn’t nearly as compelling as the dynamics between the core characters and their respective personal stories. An another filmmaker’s hands, this social commentary could’ve had more of a thunderous impact, but it’s clear Leitch’s focus was settled elsewhere. However, Hoult does elevate the material substantially, giving it the right amount of emotional heft to ensure the crew’s overarching scheme and the film’s overall message still hands with enough bite to make it worthwhile.
‘How To Rob A Bank’ is yet another dizzyingly fun Leitch vehicle that makes great use of its impressive cast and exciting concept, delivering plenty of entertainment value dripping with style, energy and muscular filmmaking. More importantly, it proves that Leitch is capable of far more behind the camera, the more grounded storytelling suiting his talents substantially better than his previous films. Simply put, this wolf pack will have no issues getting their fiendish claws into audiences.