‘How To Rob A Bank’

A slick, anti-capitalist crime thriller brought to you by Amazon, ‘How To Rob A Bank’ sells itself as a swaggering riot, then stumbles off with the thrills it promised thrills.

Directed by David Leitch, the film follows a gang of bank robbers who quickly go viral for their bold heists turned hyper YouTube tutorials. With a wolf-masked Nicholas Hoult at the front of the pack and copycats sprouting, the FBI gives chase, determined to bring their vengeance fuelled-anarchy to an end.

A punk-ish modern-day Robin Hood, it’s a great set up that hums when it commits to its namesake. Packed with jittery editing and cut like scroll you can’t stop, winking as it goes, How To Rob A Bank is a fun watch as hard as it’s story is to believe. Throw in a 2010’s crime sheen that lands as a relief amid the beige modern look, and for the first part you’re happily in and along for the ride.

And then the wheels start to come off. As easy as it is to get sucked in to Hoult’s piercing gaze, and his everything else, the film is severely lacking and its hard turn into earnest melodrama halfway in, doesn’t help.

Once it loses its giddy internet age energy and tries to take itself seriously, its a real drag. What started as refreshing quickly boils down into cliches and predictable narrative that banks on your emotional investment which was never really established as you get sucked into the fun heists of it all. It never gives you enough to latch on.

Sure, its a great message but you can’t help the sour taste when the movie literally kicks off with Amazon’s shiny logo. It makes the rest of the film feel more mocking than genuine in its message of banks taking advantage of people and how radicalism might be needed in the way things are going in the world, people are not happy watching the rich get richer. But it seems to wave these important ideas around with little less than a shrug.

The film has many glaring issues, its lack of action being its main downfall. The trouble is the action, or the lack of it. Leitch is a man who made his name on set pieces, yet bar one chase and a convincing if underpowered finale, there’s little here to gasp at. This is his weakest outing for excitement.

The story wants to be too many things, a goofy crime movie, an earnest thriller and ends up spread much too thin and confused.

Glossy and kinda fun, How To Rob A Bank held the keys to something sharp and settled for a pittance.

2.5/5

How To Rob A Bank is in cinemas now.