‘How to Rob a Bank’ is the most dangerous movie ever made; skip Hollywood’s latest communist fantasy
Luigi Mangione can’t watch “How to Rob a Bank” anytime soon. He’s awaiting trial at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center on charges that he gunned down a healthcare CEO.
Otherwise, the accused killer would be cheering from his seat. Sadly, others will, too.
The film, opening nationwide Nov. 13, follows a gang of social media personalities who rob banks to help the less fortunate. They’re charismatic and cool, deploying TikTok videos to gin up outrage and follows.
Their message? The system is broken beyond repair. Why not rob banks like we do? Nine out of 10 bank robbers get away with it, we’re told.
Gotta like those odds, no? (Never mind the 1 in 10 staring down years in prison)
A key subplot finds the group’s leader, played by a blond Nicholas Hoult, holds a banking executive (Christian Slater) personally responsible for his child’s death. He even puts a gun to his head to make him pay for his sins.
It’s eerily similar to Mangione’s political jeremiad against healthcare executives, a mission that ended with a father and husband getting gunned down in cold blood.
That’s just part of the film’s immoral posturing.
“Bank” repeatedly lectures the audience on the evils of modern-day capitalism, demanding we rise up and violently fight back. Rob a bank. Shoot an off-duty cop trying to restore law and order.
Hey! It’ll make a sweet viral video (assuming you live long enough to see it).
Mangione raged against the US healthcare system, one reason he became a hero to the hard left (and comedian Bill Burr). They even made an off-Broadway musical tied to his lethal activism.
Few would argue the healthcare system is perfect. Some might blame the skyrocketing costs on Obamacare, while others pine for “universal” healthcare coverage. “Bank” takes a similar stance against the banking system, painting it as hopelessly corrupt with the kind of talking points Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez might retweet between fundraisers.
Take the politics out of it. Injustices within the system persist, be it healthcare or banking. Some are getting worse, while others flow from poor choices. Should we all start casing our local bank to “fix” the system? Maybe Google where the nearest banking executives call home and start making plans?
Through it all, our “heroes” are treated like flawless Robin Hoodlums, beyond moral reproach.
“How to Rob a Bank” takes the fiery but mostly peaceful approach to the mob that Hoult’s character whips up in the third act. Sure, one storefront window gets shattered, but it’s mostly a populist movement against injustice, you see.
Have you looked around Paris lately?
“Bank” director David Leitch previously humanized hit men in the 2022 action comedy “Bullet Train” starring Brad Pitt. Now, he’s elevating bank robbers as our moral betters. Can’t imagine what he’ll deliver next, but it’s hardly a Hollywood outlier.
Pop culture keeps glorifying political violence following President Donald Trump’s re-election. Dave Chappelle, who once fended off an attack for telling trans jokes, told Madison Square Garden guests that he’s happy Charlie Kirk got assassinated. Podcaster Jennifer Welch had to apologize after she spent more than 20 seconds chuckling over someone suggesting we exhume Kirk’s corpse and shoot him again.
Late-night comics giggle over Tesla dealerships burning. “Saturday Night Live” yuks it up over assassination jokes. The most recent Best Picture winner deified violent revolutionaries. “One Battle After Another” told us immigration enforcement officials deserved no mercy, but let’s cheer on a pot-addled Leonardo DiCaprio and his merry band of revolutionaries.
Now, “How to Rob a Bank” all but demands audiences sharpen their pitchforks and charge their smartphones.
Will the next Luigi Mangione have a “Bank” movie ticket in his hip pocket?
Christian Toto is the founder of HollywoodInToto.com.