Whatever David Leitch and Co. did to get this movie made at a major studio in 2026 is kind of astounding. How To Rob a Bank lays bare all of the economic and social issues that normal people might have while surrounding it with a thrilling heist story. The film follows a group of thieves led by Ryan/The Wolf (Nicholas Hoult) and his wife Emi (played by Anna Sawai). The two of them plan and execute bank heists alongside their friends Vince (Pete Davidson), Hugo (Rhenzy Feliz), and some others that tag along the various heists. The wrinkle here is that they live-stream the entire heist and post videos to social media, chronicling everything.
The videos themselves are hilarious looks at what content creation looks like in 2026, with more cuts and an attention-engaging style that’ll make the shortest attention span pay attention. They’re being tailed by Agent John West (played by John C. Reilly) who brings in Reagan Gardner (Zoe Kravitz), a hacker who created a program that can search and find people based upon their social media posts.
The film itself does bring up questions about how ethical this program is, especially in an age of AI and surveillance. The real thing that the film questions, though, is capitalism. And oh boy, does it go HARD against capitalism. It goes so hard against capitalism and hoarding wealth that it makes you wonder how a major studio funded this movie and didn’t make them change anything.
The film follows a normal sort of heist, Goodfellas-y track where you get the highest of highs with the group robbing several banks and evading capture from the FBI. It actually keeps that high point going for a bit longer than I was expecting but then the hammer drops. Once the hammer drops, you think the movie is going to be over early, but there’s plenty after the point where the group gets caught. They’re building up to a major heist at what seems to be an impenetrable bank ran by Walton (Christian Slater). The third act of the film happens over the course of the start and end of a riot caused by the group.
If there are some things I can complain about in the film, the group doesn’t really get fleshed out as well as they could have been, especially considering the movie was over two hours long. We get a bit with Vince, Pete Davidson’s character, but not really a whole lot. He’s a veteran with lung issues from burn pits when he served. He’s got a family at home that he has to take care of, and his story is easily the most emotionally resonant.
The main throughline is Ryan and Emi’s story about their son, but it doesn’t land as well as it could have. You see Vince’s daughter in the film, but the reason why Ryan and Emi are going through with these robberies never really gets personified. Also for whatever reason, if you hate the sound of people eating, almost every scene involving John West and Reagan has them eating food.
A lof ot the technical jargon in the film gets dumbed down, which I appreciated not having to hear all the details about a program that invades people’s privacy. That aspect of the film is really where it bogs down. The mystery and intrigue of the FBI chasing after them feels like a secondary thing and that’s good. But really, where How To Rob A Bank shines is the heists and the videos of the group within the movie.
As it goes along, the anti-capitalism message comes out stronger and stronger. At the end of the film, it’s laid completely bare, yeah, the crappy economic situation some of us are in is because of the people pillaging us for everything we’ve got. Bankers are the bad guys. People offering predatory loans that we can’t pay off are the bad guys. The people robbing banks? Maybe not so much.
So where How To Rob A Bank succeeds is kind of mixing the styles of Fortnite and Point Break with an absolute hammer of a message. This is the Gen Z/Zoomer generation’s version of a heist movie. It doesn’t delve as deeply into the human characters and their issues; those are surface-level. But it does hit us with a message that resonates exceptionally well today.
There’s a lot in the camera work and shots of the film that add to the feeling of snappy content creation. It’s slightly disorienting to cut so much from the YouTube videos in the movie and the FBI stuff, but that’s likely on purpose. As a whole, even with some issues, the third act of the movie and the grand heist at the end make it all worth it.
So, for those reasons, plus some entertaining stunts and pretty excellent performances from Nicholas Hoult and John C. Reilly, I really enjoyed How To Rob A Bank.
How To Rob A Bank releases in theaters on November 13th, 2026.
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