True to its title, How to Rob a Bank spends a lot of time explaining the mechanics of how to pull off a bank heist. The ensemble of thieves divulges everything from the best time to target a bank to the best ways to plan an escape route. They even go so far as to argue a case for bank robberies, noting that you’re more likely to pull off a heist than afford a home in your lifetime. Given the idolization of such figures splattered through eye-catching viral videos, there are shades of Natural Born Killers in this high-energy cavalcade of capers, even if it shares more of that rip-roaring style than cathartic commentary.

We spend a lot of time with the robbers, but most of it is spent addressing the camera rather than each other. Nicholas Hoult and Anna Sawai play a couple who share kisses between setting up fake bombs and switching cars, but they’re also bound by a tragedy that motivates their heist operations. Rhenzy Feliz plays the group’s wise tech expert, filming Hoult’s masked skits that make bank robbing educational and fun. Pete Davidson has some driving experience, a bitter history with the military, and a family he wants to protect. We get brief glimpses of their emotional drivers for stealing, but not enough to feel like anything more than last-minute additions. So much time is spent with Hoult’s character covering heist details and giving recommendations to his online viewers that I started thinking this film was based on a real how-to guidebook. Keeping your mouth shut may be a great way to avoid prosecution when the cops catch you, but that eyes-on-the-prize mindset turns its players more into video game characters than charismatic criminals. Their mantra when filming their many bank heists is “Let’s make some content,” and you can feel that capitalization of revolution within the film, despite how frenetically the pacing tries to keep you from questioning such a staging.

There is far more personality to be found in the cats of this cat-and-mouse chase. John C. Reilly plays FBI agent West, struggling to track these robbers. With little help from his fellow agents, he falls back on the online expertise of the stoner hacker Reagan, played by Zoë Kravitz. West believes he is doing the right thing by arresting these bank robbers, but the slightly apathetic Reagan admires the movement’s messaging. The clash between these two forces makes for a solid buddy dynamic as they begin to recognize each other. Reilly isn’t a cartoonish foe who blindly reinforces capitalism, nor is Kravitz the moral voice of reason, given that her online tracking software, which violates privacy, was built out of petty spite. The same can’t be said for the film’s ultimate antagonist, the bank CEO Walton, played by Christian Slater. While Slater gives a fine performance, he has little to work with as a character who never leaves his office and gets antsy when discussing his business’s predatory lending practices. When West and Reagan meet with Walton, the contrast is clear: Reilly and Kravitz feel like they’re in a different movie, chowing down on their meatier roles while everyone else feels like a vessel for the film’s astute yet vexing politics.

The divide also shows in the writing and direction. Director David Leitch (Bullet Train) has a lot of fun with the material while framing it believably. When the robbers film their many heist operations, they get incredibly experimental, using everything from handheld to GoPro cameras to capture so many exciting angles. The motion graphics they splash over their posted videos never feel like the film is trying too hard to force the internet’s influence into how crimes of passion spread. Several well-staged action scenes stand out, including the explosive finale of street anarchy amid fights and car chases. But then there’s the script by Mark Bianculli, which spends far too much time getting overtly preachy about an unjust capitalist system. The film already has so much style and energy that when it slows to explain the mechanics of the most successful bank robbers, it comes off almost mawkish. At several points, Houlet’s character drops the pretense of addressing his online audience and speaks directly to us, declaring that we need to act. That point doesn’t hit as hard as it should when it has to be delivered as prescriptive as everything else in this explanatory caper.

How to Rob a Bank works when it spends more time embracing its enthusiastically cunning caper than slowing down to explain crime and capital. There are some thrilling chases and shootouts, but it still feels like it doesn’t explore enough of how easily online media has inspired a revolution or even the need for revolution itself. Leitch’s direction mostly saves this picture from becoming a hollow anti-capitalist crime picture that could’ve easily gotten lost in too many annoying monologues. But the film’s recollection still has an unmistakable itch: it’s staged with a colorful smear of stylish action and vocal declarations condemning banks. The film ends with Nicholas Hoult insisting to the camera that we need to wake up. Hopefully, the audience watching such a picture will be able to pull the lens out further to see the bigger game being played, where media can take advantage of our desire for revolution as much as banks take advantage of our lack of accounts.