Bank robbers are becoming internet sensations, the FBI is losing its grip on the investigation, and the two people who might be able to stop the chaos couldn’t be more different.
In How to Rob a Bank, Zoë Kravitz and John C. Reilly join forces in an unconventional crime thriller where viral fame, daring heists, and clashing ideas about justice collide. Directed by David Leitch, the film puts a timely spin on the classic cops-and-robbers story, asking a provocative question: What happens when the criminals become more popular than the people trying to catch them?
At the center of the action is a gang of masked bank robbers who livestream their crimes, turning each heist into an online spectacle. As their following grows, so does the pressure on the FBI to bring them down.
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Enter Special Agent John West (Reilly), an old-school investigator struggling to navigate a world where criminal notoriety can translate into social media stardom. His unlikely partner is Reagan Gardner (Kravitz), a gifted software engineer under house arrest whose complicated relationship with the law makes her the last person anyone would expect to help the FBI.
Together, they might be exactly what the investigation needs. The only problem? They don’t necessarily agree on what justice looks like.
John C. Reilly Plays an FBI Agent Caught Between Two Worlds
For John C. Reilly, the appeal of How to Rob a Bank goes beyond the adrenaline of chasing criminals. His character represents a generation trying to make sense of a society transformed by technology, where public opinion can shift overnight and the line between rebellion and criminality isn’t always clear.
My character comes from an analog world,” Reilly says. “Younger people were born into this accelerated digital environment. Older generations are still trying to make sense of how quickly everything is changing. So, my character sees himself as the thin blue line between civilization and anarchy. It’s not that he disagrees with people being angry about healthcare, debt or corporations. It’s that he believes if everybody starts deciding which laws matter based on personal feelings, civilization collapses.
West isn’t oblivious to the frustrations fueling public anger. He understands why people question powerful institutions, corporations, and systems that seem stacked against them. What concerns him is what happens when that anger becomes an excuse to disregard the law.
It’s a conviction that makes his assignment particularly personal. While the masked robbers are winning over audiences with their audacious crimes, West sees something far more dangerous than a series of bank heists.
And to catch criminals who understand the digital world better than he does, he’ll need help from someone who operates entirely outside his comfort zone.
Zoë Kravitz Is the Brilliant Hacker the FBI Never Saw Coming
Reagan Gardner isn’t your typical crime-fighting heroine.
She’s sharp, independent, technologically gifted, and currently under house arrest after creating an app capable of tracking people through photographs using facial recognition technology.
Her coding skills may have landed her in trouble, but they’re also what make her invaluable to West’s investigation.
For Kravitz, Reagan’s moral complexity was one of the biggest attractions of the role.
I like the way the story challenges the system and encourages people to ask questions,” she says. “It doesn’t necessarily take one side, which I think is really important in storytelling.
Rather than presenting Reagan as a straightforward hero or troublemaker, the film places her somewhere in between. She’s a talented outsider with her own frustrations about power and authority, suddenly thrust into an investigation that forces her to confront those beliefs.
Reagan is a coder, and she got in a little bit of trouble for creating an app that can track people through photographs – basically a kind of facial recognition technology. She’s definitely a fish-out-of-water character, and I always love playing people who are suddenly thrown into chaos and forced to adapt, Kravitz says.
And while Reagan may understand the technology driving the criminals’ popularity, working alongside a by-the-book FBI agent presents an entirely different challenge.
Two Opposing Personalities, One Complicated Partnership
An analog-minded FBI veteran and a rebellious tech expert under house arrest? It’s hardly a match made in heaven.
But that’s precisely what makes West and Reagan’s partnership one of the film’s most intriguing elements.
Initially, West sees Reagan as little more than a useful resource. She has the technical expertise he lacks, and he needs answers. Their arrangement seems simple enough.
As the investigation progresses, however, he discovers there’s much more to her than he anticipated.
At first, he just sees her as someone useful to the investigation, but eventually he realizes she’s not just some stoner hacker sitting in an apartment,” Reilly says. “She’s incredibly intelligent and genuinely interested in justice.
Their disagreements also reveal something deeper. Both want to see justice served, but their ideas about who deserves power and how that power should be exercised are fundamentally different.
The tension between them really comes down to their views on power – who has it, how it should be used, and whether systems deserve to be challenged.
It’s this ideological tug-of-war that gives their unlikely alliance an interesting edge. Catching the robbers is one thing. Learning to trust someone who sees the world differently is another.
Director David Leitch Wanted More Than a Typical Action Movie Character
For director David Leitch, bringing Reagan to the screen meant creating a character who could hold her own without falling into familiar crime-thriller stereotypes.
Kravitz proved to be an ideal fit.
One of the things I loved about Zoë is that she brought both strength and complexity to Reagan,” Leitch says. “We weren’t interested in creating a conventional genre character. Reagan has her own perspective, her own frustrations and her own relationship to the ideas the film is exploring.
That approach allows Reagan to be more than the tech expert who conveniently solves the FBI’s problems. She has her own motivations, opinions, and unresolved questions about the very systems she’s being asked to protect.
As the story unfolds, her relationship with West becomes a meeting of two competing worldviews, each challenged by the increasingly complicated case.
And with criminals who know how to turn public attention into influence, the investigation becomes about more than identifying suspects and making arrests.
A Star-Studded Cast Takes on the Age of Viral Crime
Beyond its unusual central pairing, How to Rob a Bank brings together an impressive ensemble featuring Nicholas Hoult, Anna Sawai, Rhenzy Feliz, Christian Slater, and Pete Davidson.
Under Leitch’s direction, the film explores a particularly modern kind of criminal spectacle, one where livestreams can transform masked robbers into celebrities and public fascination can complicate the pursuit of justice.
It’s a premise that feels especially relevant in an era when virtually anything can become viral content.
But beneath the high-stakes investigation lies an even more compelling conflict: Can two people with opposing beliefs about authority, technology, and the law find enough common ground to stop criminals who seem to have the internet on their side?
For West and Reagan, solving the case might require more than putting their skills together. It might mean questioning everything they thought they knew about justice.
Catch Zoë Kravitz and John C. Reilly in How to Rob a Bank, opening in Philippine cinemas on November 11. Distributed locally by Columbia Pictures PH.
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