Overrated

A Brilliant Conflict

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

The NOKAS robbery was a huge thing here in Norway. It was historical, stuff like this very rarely happens in our rather big, but people-empty little strip of land. It was a real talker, on the news and in the newspapers for a long time.Anyhow, after the world controversy had died down and most of the crooks were in prison, the movie about it all came out.Now, this is not a bad movie. Considering it's Norwegian it is rather good. But it never crosses the line into real good territory. Most of the actors aren't big names, or really famous at all, and that works pretty good in something like this, as you don't want to be too attached to the actors. They do a decent job, too.It has some intense action, some cool shots, and it being true of course leave a little bit of an impact. But I do think it could have been a little more edgy, for it to come across as more dramatical. I don't know. It's alright.

I like watching bank robbery films and there are a lot of good ones out there, Charley Varrick and Dog Day Afternoon being two of the absolute best, so I was looking forward to this. But it has to be right at the other end of the scale. Somehow, the film makers have managed to pull off the near impossible, by making the biggest heist in Norwegian history boring. I can't think of a single interesting thing to say about this film. The perpetual on-screen captions telling us things like "five minutes earlier" add annoying to the formula. It's also completely devoid of humour. ***SPOILERS***Questions I'd like to ask Norwegians; are the police really that bumbling and disorganised? How can the town's whole police force be blocked in their station by a burning lorry? It just seems ridiculous. A question for the robbers; why did you ever think the glass would break so easily? The stupidity and lack of depth in the characters ruins any attempts to be realistic. A complete waste of time.

This must be one of the most stupid films I've ever seen. Living in Sweden, I've met quite a few Norwegians, none of which were as stupid as 99% of the people in this movie. I realize it's supposed to be a documentary, but it just isn't possible that anyone can be this stupid. Pensioners and families with small children standing still a few meters from an intense firefight, and seemingly not notice anything or simply not caring, and with no intent at all to take cover or try to run away. There is a Swedish comedy called "Cops" and although it is very good, it is not nearly as funny as this movie, so if you like comedies, watch it!!

While coherently depicting the original story of the 2004 robbery of this bank in Stavanger, Norway, I have to advise people that I have been motion sick for almost all the film. The camera is mostly behind an actors shoulder, with focus on the shoulder but in many scenes not on what it actually looks at. This, combined with a lot of hand-held filming, made me feel very sick from watching it. The otherwise very fluently and grippingly told story is lacking some overview shots, and as with so many films these days the camera is very very close to the actors, which in combination with the fast editing can lead to a certain disorientation. The ending scenes do benefit from the absence of all this, and rest burned into memory long after the film ends.