“How to Rob a Bank” is a provocative and entertaining film. The screenplay deals with issues of economic inequities and injustices in our society as well as the system that sustains them. The bank robberies are propulsively portrayed as streaming videos with special effects and high action content. The cast is first-rate led by Nicholas Hoult and John C. Reilly.

The movie opens with an initial bank heist. In Pittsburgh a group of people in a van place a diversion that looks like a bomb on a bridge. Emi (Anna Sawai) calls it in to 9-1-1 and frees the bank crew to go to their target. Donning masks the entire effort is filmed to be broadcast later.

In a makeshift studio, Ryan (Nicholas Hoult) dons his wolf mask as Hugo (Rhenzy Feliz) records him. They instruct their viewers on the statistic that 90 percent of bank robberies are successful. Tools for use such as DNA eraser aerosol sprays are featured.

In later broadcasts, the Wolf talks to security guards about how underpaid they are for the risks they take. Why should they resist the Wolf team if they rob a bank?

Another video discusses how unfair the United States economic system is. Highlighted are being saddled with student-loan debt, medical expenses, cost-of-living issues, and the structural barriers to owning a home.

The success of this group of robbers irritates a particular FBI agent, John West (John C. Reilly). His team is having no success. Desperate to keep up with the Wolf team’s continuing broadcasts and encouragement to break the law, John visits Reagan (Zoe Kravitz), an ex-professor for Carnegie Mellon.

Reagan is under house arrest for designing a location-tracking program. While she did nothing wrong, the software was used by others to find a judge’s home, which they burned down.

John convinces Reagan to help him as he can get her off house arrest. She looks for commonalities between the different posted videos to track down the Wolf team.

Another member of the team, Vince (Pete Davidson) teaches Emi how to spin a car and reverse its direction. Vince is ex-military and has a loving wife and daughter. Ryan and Emi are a couple who once had a son. Hugo is trying to raise enough cash so that his mother doesn’t have to keep working.

The action leads up to an attack on an armored car that does not go as planned. Instead of being able to get away in another vehicle, the team is forced to flee in the truck. A major chase scene ensues but the robbers escape and are not apprehended.

Soon Reagan is able to pinpoint the exact location where the crew operates. A raid occurs and some equipment is discovered. They know enough now to take the Wolf team members into custody. At which point we see a “How to Handle a Police Interrogation” video made by the team. The FBI also obtains an asthma inhaler with Pete’s name on it. Uh-oh!

What is the Wolf team’s members’ ultimate motivation with their crime spree?

Despite their various flaws, I enjoyed director David Leitch’s previous films “Bullet Train” and “The Fall Guy.” His sense of how to merge action stunts with character back stories is top-notch. On the other hand, there often is a lot of filler and oversimplification of themes.

The theme of having been stiffed by society due to its structural inequities is prominent and a direct cause of the Wolf team’s efforts not only to rob banks but to educate the public. But how much can you really do to deal with a complex subject in a series of video broadcasts? While the goal may be noble, a university education this is not.

I liked that way that the picture zeroes in on how today’s citizens consume information. We see cell phones being viewed by those following the bank robbers. Data consumption is often fragmented and not deep. Experiences tend to be of the moment. But are they enough to drive people to deeper inquiry? At one point Ryan is shown as owning a book called “Radicals” to show that he has done his research. But are his viewers doing so?

There is an inherent tension which the John West character refers to in the actions of the bank robbers and their attempt to incite rebellion against the status quo. It could be summed up as “the thin blue line” but it involves the necessity of law in preventing outright anarchy. But while these ordinances create order, they do not necessarily achieve justice.

The film cannot dive deeply into any of these themes. But I did like the scene where Ryan warns viewers to be prepared if these injustices are allowed to continue.

I do want to shout out the excellent casting. Nicholas Hoult as Ryan is a compassionate, caring but embittered soul over the loss of his son. We see how much he loves Emi but we also detect how driven he is to pursue this quest to the end.

John C. Reilly brilliantly portrays the long-in-the-tooth FBI agent John West. He seems to be just a regular guy doing his job. He also is somewhat a dinosaur in terms of technology, relying on Reagan to help him out with the techno-savvy Wolf team. In his later interactions in the denouement Reilly demonstrates that West is someone who understand Ryan’s motives and feelings but disagrees with his actions.

The real surprise for me is Pete Davidson as Vince. He doesn’t command a lot of screen time. But when he appears, his presence dominates the moment. From his interactions with his daughter and wife to being the seasoned ex-military member of the team, he is a master of emotion.

The editing, especially in the videos, is just great. The selection of music complements the high-octane action as events spiral along. Even with some slow scenes, the pacing is generally good.

While I worry about copycat actions that may arise from this picture, it does attempt to raise serious issues. It does not entirely succeed in explicating them to the fullest, but it does succeed on the action level.

Four out of five stars

A crew of social media-savvy bank robbers broadcasts their daring heists, unaware that their growing viral fame has put them in the crosshairs of a veteran FBI agent and a brilliant software engineer. Despite the unlikely duo closing in, the crime ring pushes past their limits, putting everything on the line for their beliefs – and their most ambitious heist yet.

Cast: Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Kravitz, Anna Sawai, Rhenzy Feliz, Christian Slater as Walton, with Pete Davidson and John C. Reilly
Directed by: David Leitch
Written by: Mark Bianculli