How to Rob a Bank

A social media-age take on stealing from the rich to give to the poor? It’s an intriguing concept, and one that How to Rob a Bank delivers with its TikTokification of class consciousness. This may be one of the first popcorn movies to explicitly address the multitudes of Americans who’ve been awakened to the iniquity of the Land of the Free. Whether it does so with conviction or cynicism, however, is up for debate.

Influencer Ryan (Nicholas Hoult), known as “Wolf” due to the furry head he dons to protect his anonymity, leads the Wolfpack, a disillusioned collective who livestream their bank robberies on YouTube, complete with instructions on how viewers can escape the shackles of capitalist servitude. Partly reminiscent of Dog Day Afternoon‘s benevolent bank robbers, the Wolfpack ensure their fellow proletariats are never harmed during their armed stunts. The pack includes Afghanistan veteran and bear-head-donning Vince (Pete Davidson), kindly content editor Hugo (Rhenzy Feliz) and Ryan’s partner Emi (Anna Sawai), a stylish diversion-creating extraordinaire. 

We expect silly action set pieces aplenty from David Leitch, the man behind Atomic Blonde and The Fall Guy. With FBI Agent West (John C Reilly) hot on the pack’s trail with the help of disgraced app developer Reagan (Zoë Kravitz), the film delivers car chases, shootouts, explosions – the lot. Such sequences remind us that this is an action flick first, the politics merely secondary.

It’s a shame because there’s so much potential in that regard. For instance, allusions to the deification of Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, loom large throughout, exemplified through Christian Slater’s callous banking CEO, who has built his fortune on unpayable debt. Ryan even tells him that he’s not a killer; the banks are. Such moments are evocative, but all too brief and, ultimately, superficial.

This isn’t the only modern-day Robin Hood crime flick to come out this autumn, Boots Riley’s I Love Boosters being the other. But whereas the latter was ripe with anti-capitalist subtext courtesy of its communist director, How to Rob a Bank utilises such motifs as purely aesthetic choices. It offers little meaningful insight into the nature of wealth hoarders and redistribution, instead capitalising on systemic disenfranchisement.

But as an action-packed crime caper interspersed with snappy social commentary, it’s an enjoyable ride. And hey, if it can get the kids to question their material conditions, who are we to thrash it?

Antonia Georgiou

How to Rob a Bank is released nationwide on 13^th November 2026.

Watch the trailer for How to Rob a Bank here: