Z.Love's Entertainment Blog: heist

Robert Pattinson and Denzel Washington

Netflix has finally pulled back the curtain on one of its most closely guarded movies. On November 9, 2026, the streamer released the first look at The Take, a twisty heist movie starring Robert Pattinson and Denzel Washington, and the images alone are enough to get people talking.

The film arrives in select theaters and on Netflix on January 15, 2027, and if the early details are anything to go by, this is not a typical bank robbery story.

What Is 'The Take' About?

The setup sounds simple, and that is exactly the point. Pattinson plays Noah, a former Army captain fresh out of the service and trying to find his footing in civilian life. Washington plays Christian Carter, a charismatic master thief who recruits Noah to join his crew for the score of a lifetime: robbing the richest bank in Manhattan.

There is just one complication. Noah's girlfriend, Rose, played by Daisy Edgar-Jones, happens to work at that very bank as a teller. The film's official logline puts it this way: a bank guard, a teller, and a master thief get caught in a deadly game of cons and double crosses. With time and his love interest on the line, Noah has to figure out who he can actually trust.

The movie was previously titled Here Comes the Flood, and it has been in development at Netflix since 2020, when the streamer picked up the original screenplay in a seven-figure deal. It was originally expected to arrive in 2026 before being pushed to early next year, which makes the January 2027 date the first firm one fans have had.

A Bank Heist Told Through One Pair of Eyes

What makes The Take different from most entries in the genre is how the story is told. The entire film is shown exclusively from Noah's point of view.

The audience only knows what Noah knows, either because he is physically there or because he hears something over the intercom. Viewers never get to see what is happening elsewhere, or what the other characters are doing when Noah is not around.

Director Fernando Meirelles, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker behind City of God and The Two Popes, says that strict subjectivity is what drew him to the project. Before filming, he revisited a string of heist classics, including Heat, Point Break, The Killing, and Dog Day Afternoon, and still found something new in the script's puzzle-like structure.

"When I first read the script, I wasn't quite sure whether I was reading a heist film or a psychological drama with a love story at its center; it's this interesting combination of genres," Meirelles said. "You start watching the film without quite knowing where it's going to take you. You have to come along for the ride without too many expectations. The story keeps surprising you right up to the very end."

That surprise, he teases, runs all the way to the final moments. According to Meirelles, it is only in the last ten seconds of the movie that everything falls into place.

Why Denzel Washington and Robert Pattinson Said Yes

For a cast of this caliber, the script clearly did the heavy lifting. Washington, who has spent the later part of his career choosing projects with unusual care, put it plainly: "At this point in my life, I'm focused on doing the best work with the best filmmakers. So, what I do from this point forward and who I do it with is very important to me, both spiritually and artistically."

His character, Carter, is a long way from the straightforward hero. Washington describes him as a frustrated musician and a precise mathematical mind who believes time is everything. "He thinks there's a mathematical equation for success, but he's wrong," Washington said of Carter. "He manipulates everyone around him, using anyone in any way he can to get what he wants. He wants to dominate everyone, and he believes he's smarter than everybody else. Ultimately, he doesn't care about anyone but himself."

For Pattinson, the draw was partly the script and partly the co-star. He has called working with Washington a bucket-list item, saying, "Denzel is one of the reasons I wanted to become an actor, so getting to work with him was pretty incredible." It is not his first time working with a Washington on a high-stakes theft, either: he previously starred opposite Denzel's son, John David Washington, in Christopher Nolan's Tenet.

Pattinson also found that his co-star likes to keep things unpredictable. "What I loved was seeing how alive the material is for him," Pattinson said. "Even after all these years of acting, he's still looking for something new in every take. I also didn't realize how much he liked to improvise, which made it all the more exciting. You'd start a five-page scene thinking you knew where it was going, and then suddenly you're completely off-piste. It was really thrilling."

Meirelles agrees, noting that Washington's search for the truth of the moment often led him to unexpected places, and that more than a few improvised lines made it into the final cut. Edgar-Jones, meanwhile, was drawn in by the director himself, calling City of God "one of the most exquisite films."

Noah Is Not the Hero You Expect

Pattinson's character is not a clean-cut good guy caught in a bad situation. As the actor puts it, Noah "is someone who has a hard time trusting people, but, ironically, he's also quite deceitful himself." He does not even fully understand why he is robbing the bank, or what is happening around him. "It's a bank robbery, but there are so many unexpected things happening at every turn, with each individual scene feeling like a little set piece unto itself," Pattinson said.

That version of Noah actually changed during editing. Meirelles revealed that in the first cut, the character came across as more insecure and hesitant. During the edit, the team decided to make him more self-assured and confident, and found that performance already existed in the footage. "Rob is one of the best actors working today," the director said. "All we had to do was go back to the footage, and that other version of Noah was already there in his performances, we just had to find it."

Who Else Is in The Take?

Beyond the three leads, the cast includes Danai Gurira, Moisés Arias, Justin Kirk, and Sean Harris. The screenplay comes from Simon Kinberg, whose writing credits include X-Men: Days of Future Past, Sherlock Holmes, and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Kinberg's script is the foundation everything else is built on, and both the director and the cast keep coming back to how unusual its structure is for the genre.

When Can You Watch The Take?

The Take premieres January 15, 2027, in select theaters and on Netflix. The first-look images and key art are out now, and with promotion underway, a teaser trailer is likely not far behind. Until then, the mystery is part of the appeal: as Edgar-Jones put it, "I don't want to set it up too much, as the fun of this film is the mystery and its turns."

For a heist movie built on double crosses, and a hero who does not know who to trust, The Take is something you might want to check out when it comes out.