Nokas (2010) User Reviews

Respects the story it recreates

[peefyn · 7/10 · 18 October 2016]

This movie is an interesting project, as it tries, more than anything else, to be accurate. Everything on location, local actors, following the actual events as closely as possible. This is not enough to make it a good movie, but it does make it interesting.

But this is more than any "TV-recreation", because it's obvious that director has a certain ambition here. The movie "Heat" is directly mentioned in this, as it distances itself from it. They wanted to go in a different direction, and they achieved it. Despite a lot of action, it never feels like an action movie.

But it's a challenge to make a movie telling a story from several perspectives at the same time, especially if you don't lend yourself the freedom to change the chronology up a bit to make it more exciting. This leads to the movie jumping back and forwards in time quite a bit. It never really gets confusing, but the solution is not ideal.

While much of the acting is good, there are certain deliveries of dialogue that takes you our of the experience. But considering the project, it's worth going for the local actors.

A good film but not without problems

[Goettschwan · 5/10 · 15 October 2010]

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.

A dramatized account of Norway's biggest robbery to date.

[DimitrisPassas-TapTheLine · 6/10 · 6 July 2019]

In 2004 eight men disguised as the police special forces (SWAT) attempted to rob the Nokas Cash Central in the city of Stavanger. The tragic result of this crime was the death of a police officer who was shot while being in his vehicle and mass-panic in the center of the small Norwegian town. The movie is set on location, adding to the realistic effect while it is shot with a hand-held camera which makes the film all the more suspenseful and full of tension.

We, as the audience, are watching the preparation of the heist, some hours before the actual event with the robbers making their final decisions and the police officers in the Stavanger Station being blissfully ignorant about what's about to happen. The actual robbery covers the entire second half of "Nokas" and is shot in a masterful way by the director Erik Skjoldbjærg ("Insomnia", "Okkupert"). The actors' performances are all great, even though the nature of this film doesn't offer many opportunities to exhibit acting skills. The director states the real facts about the consequences of this crime in the end and it amazed me that 51 of the 57 in total Kroner that was stolen were never found. If you are a true crime fanatic, this is a film not to miss and the same is true for all Nordic Noir fans who are tired by fictional stories and want to watch something else.

Whaow !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[searchanddestroy-1 · 20 August 2012]

I consider myself a die hard heist movie lover, and this film is, for me, one of the best ever made. And I know what I am talking about. I have watched thousand of them in my life, since the early seventies.

This movie is based on actual events. It's a sort of mixup between semi documentary and classic film. The tale of a large group of professional robbers fully equipped as a SWAT team, who pull a mammoth bank heist right in the middle of a major town.

I was astonished by the pace, filming, editing and acting of this fantastic action, thriller and crime flick. Of course, there is not study of characters here. But I don't care. You're literally stuck to your seat from the beginning to the very end. A very realistc story, that the Hollywood studios would not have made in such a way. Maybe not worse, but just different...

I put it at the same scale as HEAT.

I am also surprised that the robbers did not use explosives to blast the bulletproof bank window, or the vault armored fence, that prevented them to take the tons of bank notes we saw at the beginning of the films, with the bank clerks talking about their private lives just around, as if they were in a bakery...

Pretty good. Mostly interesting for Norwegians

[Finfrosk86 · 6/10 · 14 June 2015]

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.

Good perspectives, but room for technical improvements

[mieriks · 6/10 · 21 May 2023]

This movie, about Norway's most spectacular robbery, where 11 men occupied central Stavanger for twenty minutes and escaped with 57 million Norwegian kroner, is an okay crime movie.

My favorite part is probably the portrayal of the unprepared police, but also the civilians; how blinded they were by these dangerous robbers, even though the robbers' target was money. However, the robbers probably valued the money more than humans, and that is what makes these types of situations so dangerous. Norway is a free and peaceful country, and people are blinded by how wealthy and rich this country is. Many people don't realize how vulnerable our valuable freedom is, and they aren't ready for any surprises before it's too late. This is the dangerous part of freedom, and therefore we have to be prepared for every possible threat and danger every single day, even during the brightest and happiest days.

My main critic is the technical aspects in general. I appreciate how the hand-held camera was used, but I felt that the production had too much focus on this technique. Visuality is important, but that's also for the sound and other elements. The first and the second act were very slow, and they didn't really catch my excitement. The shots were way too long, and there was no character development nor remarkable conversations between the characters. Sometimes it was hard to even catch what the characters said, and therefore the verbal part felt empty. The movie tried to create chaos, but I didn't really feel any of it until the final act. My biggest wish is the need for music. There were barely any music in the entire movie, which actually created a boring feeling sometimes. The movie would significantly improve if it used some sort of a terrifying, atmospheric background sound most of the runtime. Maybe starting low in the beginning, and then building up to a more intense sound style would help? In addition, the movie obviously failed the "show, don't tell"-test. The way it told where in town the characters were was alright, but I really disliked the times and the character names. The audience doesn't need that, but rather try to understand the elements and informations of this movie, which is often the real magic in many movies. Things get much more interesting when you discover things by yourself before anyone else tells you.

While the movie has its merits as a crime film, it falls short in technical aspects. The portrayal of unprepared police and civilians highlights the dangers of valuing money over human life. It reminds us of the vulnerability of freedom, even in a peaceful country like Norway. However, the movie's execution lacks in sound, character development and pacing. The absence of music contributes to a sense of boredom. By incorporating atmospheric sound and employing the "show, don't tell" approach, the movie could have been more engaging. Overall, it could have been improved by addressing these technical aspects and allowing the audience to discover elements themselves.

My 394th Review: A new take on the robbery genre: non-clichéd directing makes for real film-making.

[intelearts · 8/10 · 29 March 2011]

Nokas is a a paradox that works. This careful reconstruction of Norway's biggest ever robbery avoids all sense of cliché - and opts for one of the better directorial decision seen in a crime / heist movie. No drama, no screaming villains or pretty girls, this is a superbly researched semi-documentary that simple records a five hour period in minutiae - yet it is tense, involving, and probably the best recreation of a bank robbery I have seen.

The Nordic style of speaking and manner is captured well - no-one "acts" they simply are, and here we get almost no character development - it's straight-up storytelling, using a lot of mid-shoulder mid-close and close-ups - it is well shot. The camera work etc; fits this well - it never feels amateurish.

Considering how iconic this real event was - in a country where bank robbery is extremely rare - they could have over-glamourised and made a Nordic Heat; by avoiding that trap they had made cinema, a film's film, and one where integrity respects the events but never loses the sense of adrenalin.

Good film-making all round.

Sometimes is good to stick with the pros

[invisiblespark · 5/10 · 25 August 2015]

I have recently watched Nokas , as it is supposed to be about a robbery that really took place in Norway,and it was meant to have a believable script and a real life feeling to it.

I love and hate the movie and here's my motives : the characters have no substance, it is difficult to tell who's who and many of the actors involved have no purpose to explain the story. The director takes the viewers attention in a roller-coaster of good and bad scenes but the scenes do not add up or reveal the center point of the story and leaves the viewer frustrated waiting for something to happen. It seems as if the one planning the robbery was a total idiot and no one of the thieves knew what they were supposed to do ,and the cops as well seem like a bunch of freshmen on their first day on the job.

What i loved about the movie was the fear that felt real between the bank employees,the arson of the truck,the fact that failure can occur anytime, not like in American movies where everything goes right the first time.Also the break into the bank was very well directed but i felt that a large part of the story is missing, and the movie ends abruptly

I recommend the movie only if you attending director/actor classes and want a point of reference

Not a master-piece but it's a very good a movie

[filipe-arte · 8/10 · 1 April 2011]

I just finished seeing this one I found it very worthy to have a look at it.

The story is told in a different way Hollywood uses to do and a different view of a action movie is kind of rare.

OK, the camera is kind of shaky almost all the time but I've said it before: when there is a reason for it for me it's OK. Here the tension is printed by this moving camera and also by the fast editing - without this two elements is kind of difficult to make the film moving or interesting.

The camera closure to the actors shows an intimacy to the characters, we see their expressions constantly and without this it would be difficult because there is no so many dialogues or "shot/reverse-shot" kind of scenes, the action took all the time needed.

The point of views are interesting but sometimes confusing even with the subtitles indicating the time, not a big problem to me.

Nokas has a nice and interesting kind of storytelling that is unusually welcome - at least for me.

Could be better

[dovomu · 1/10 · 10 March 2011]

I read that the actors were unexperienced, but they were fine, the camera and video takes were fine too.

The only problem were the missing events. The whole movie could be edited in a six minutes version. Why the events toke place between 3:00 and 08:30? Is important know that a thief toke a shower? The first 30 minutes of the movie, between 03:00 and 07:00 contains: 1 - A thief taking a shower; 2 - Putting 11 mattresses into a truck to burn and hide DNA; 3 - The police are suspecting of a possible robbery; 4 - The robbers set fire in the truck in front of the police station, blocking the garage; 5 - A thief throwing some "nails" on the road.

The filmmakers responsible for this movie should include more about the facts, the investigation, arrests, prosecution, police work and not get stuck in the square, while shows an unprepared police doing nothing. What a waste of time.

I do not believe that the Norwegian police is full of incompetent cops, but I am sure that those responsible for this movie cannot do a great job.

Is on the money!

[thomas_bechmann · 9/10 · 3 October 2010]

On an early chilly morning in the quiet town of Stavanger, the Norwegian bank was caught off guard when a group of robbers siege the bank and subsequently the entire downtown area. It was a nerve-wracking couple of hours and in recreating this experience the filmmakers have done their best to stay true to the actual events. None of the actors are professional, the camera is jerky, and sometimes out of focus, and the time-line is broken up to introduce the different characters and to see the events through their eyes. The result of this is an exciting and fascinating film. We get to see how the robbers worked, without going into much detail and we get a great depiction of how the police and bystanders reacted. And it works so well because they stayed to true to the story and have structured the film so well that you are caught up in the film when it happens and it leaves a lasting impression after you have seen it. Especially a long shot near the end stays with out long after the film is over.

This is one of the worst bank robbery movies ever made

[rightwingisevil · 23 May 2011]

I just can't believe how awfully this movie was made. The whole movie was like a joke. The screenplay was such a bad one with horrible scenario and plot, then the directing and the acting of this Nowegin movie were also so bad. If this movie was made just because the producers wanted to expose the poor organized Nowegin police system, the poor training and the poor, amateurish response to deal with an emergency, their police force was just too disgusting to be described with proper words; then it served pretty well and right on the money. If this movie was for the purpose to expose and to make laugh on those stupid morons who decided to rob the bank with such a poor plan, then again, you should consider this movie did a great job. If this movie was made for the above-mentioned two purposes, then it also served well by showing the Nowegin common citizens were so naive and so numb to almost anything happened around them. But for the movie itself, it was just a piece of worthless recount of a so-called 'based-on-a-true-story' incident. There was no realistic feeling of this whole movie, the police, the band robbers, they both failed so miserably, because they failed to deliver a suspenseful thrill in the least. Nowegin movies usually are exceptionally well scripted, directed and acted, but not this one. This is a very hollow, empty and void movie that had failed completely.

One of the worst movies ever

[improwise · 1/10 · 24 September 2012]

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!!

Redefining the heist genre

[christine-blauenfeldt · 9/10 · 20 October 2010]

Director Erik Skjoldbjærg (Insomnia, Prozac Nation) comes back with a stunning, high-intensity mix between art-house and heist movie - and thus redefines the genre. Based on real events, the film is a multi-plot run-through of the hours before and the first 25 minutes into Norway's most spectacular robbery (Easter 2004).

The movie has echoes of both Gus Van Sant's Elephant and United 93, and the final shootout bears resemblance to the corresponding scene in Heat, although this time it's "for real".

The Nokas robbery was already highly mythologized in Norwegian media, and I was very eager to see how the movie related to those myths. Which it didn't at all - and thereby contrasts the media circus around the event. A very sober and intelligent approach.

Nokas works remarkably well with its low-key, hand-held presence. The nerve of the event grabs you from the beginning, and carries you through to the brilliant last shot, where the true human impact of the event is felt through the eyes of a bus driver who, against his will, was drawn into the event.

Yawn...

[urbanforceshk · 2/10 · 8 December 2012]

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.

Extremely detailed reenactment

[ChojinZ · 10/10 · 6 December 2010]

This movie will not necessarily disappoint, but probably surprise those expecting a traditional movie with a plot and character progression etc. Nokas has none of that. Instead this is an extremely detailed reenactment of the robbery, based on witness statements, security camera footage and interviews with police officers and even some of the robbers.

The movie begins with the gang getting dressed and ready to go, and ends with them taking off with the money. Everything in between is basically the big heist scene from the movie Heat, Norwegian style, for 80 minutes.

To understand why anyone would make a movie like this, you'd probably have to be Norwegian. And what I mean by that is that Norway is a very small country where bank robberies of any kind are very uncommon. Needless to say a robbery of this magnitude resulted in an absurd media circus which literally lasted for years. All the robbers became household names and some even got their own "super villain" nicknames, such as "The Shadow" and "The Master Brain". The general fascination only grew as the leader of the gang, while hiding from the police, supposedly ordered the armed robbery of the Munch Museum in Oslo where two of the world's most famous paintings, Scream and Madonna where stolen in order to force the police to shift focus.

Anyway, the movie is great. And what makes it so is the authenticity and the fact that this is what really happened. Normally when movies are based on real events, we get the directors own interpretation of what "might" have happened, often an interpretation full of nonsense and "liberties with the truth" in order to make it work as a movie. But no, this is it. This is as close to a real robbery you'll ever get on the screen. Even small details such as certain gestures, which can be seen in the real security footage, have been carefully duplicated. This makes for an extremely tense ride which will surely keep anyone interested in heist movies on the edge of their seat all the way through.

It's also quite chocking to see exactly how the police engaged the heavily armed robbers in a fierce firefight, in the middle of a town with hundreds of civilians in the area. How they continued to provoke the robbers even after hostages was taken, and finally how it all resulted in the death of a police officer. After watching the movie it seems as an even greater miracle that no one else got killed. Hopefully the Norwegian police have learned exactly why robbers carry heavy firearms. "The Master Brain" even explains it in the beginning of the movie when he says something like: "If the police shows up, just pad your weapons and show them we're the strongest. They won't engage". Well, they did. And it didn't end well.

Really no good movie

[westman-joakim · 1/10 · 15 June 2011]

There should be a -10 rating too!

This movie was really bad. Even if the police and the gang doing the bank job acted like in this movie (which i doubt) - it is among the worst movies I've seen in a very long time.

And for the acting - also a -10. I think high-school kids I know could have made this movie much better.

So many ridiculous things happening, story, time - line.

I have really not a difficult time even not getting all upset by all the flaws in here.

Not even worth seeing for the flaws - is it a joke??? Redo - remake, or don't do at all !!! Is this movie just a bad joke???

New Camera technology = Nothing like you have ever seen

[georgegates · 10/10 · 16 March 2012]

The Poster of Nokas and the robbery theme, lured me in. Particularly striking was the wide depth of field portrayed in the poster, generally only achieved by SLR cameras and lenses.

In the case of Nokas, What you see is indeed What you get.

STORY: The story is the realistic re-creation of a robbery that played out in 2004 in a European theater (Norway). Realistic means, real people loosing their nerves, being hysteric and not playing the heroes in world abiding by physical laws.

SCREENPLAY: The screenplay is well done and traces out the robbery from the first and third person POV, following various people including the robbers and the police.

SOUND: The sound design is slightly above average. There is little background music, and nothing that stood out to me.

VERDICT: 10/10 I consider this a masterpiece, for the being the first of its kind employing this technology in a well-executed, realistic robbery-themed movie.

TECHNOLOGY: Technologically the new camera generation means wider picture angles, shallower depth of field, incredible low light performance, and above all a field of view which allows for a First person perspective. (PS: I didn't find any information regarding the actual camera setup the crew used)

For gamers, the POV perspective is the next best thing to 3D, of putting the viewer directly into the action.

Stupid robbers, Stupider police

[FedericoFeleni · 1/10 · 28 March 2013]

Stupid robbers, Stupider police or vice versa Stupid police, Stupider robbers.

Bullsiht movie. take my advice and don't watch it. You''ll thank me later.

There is nothing in this movie that is done good. the police keep on saying it's like hell in here during the shooting outside the bank but i don't think they even know the meaning of hell.Compare it to the shooting scene in Heat (1995) and all you can do is laugh at this movie.

Totally ruined my hopes, if there were any, in Norwegian cinema.

very intense

[ops-52535 · 10/10 · 21 January 2019]

Nokas -robbery in stavanger centrum in the easter week of 2004 are the largest cash robbery commited in norwegian history, about 7.5 million dollars in norwegian kroner were stolen. this film is a nervewrekingly made drama that unfolded in the ,for me, well known and very public area of the city near stavanger cathedral church.

i saw this film when screened in the theaters, and i must admit that i was bitten by the negative feeling and criticism by making a film that nearly glorified the criminals. what i see now is that the film has an equal glorification of the desperate actions made by the police, who were entraped and passified by the looters and the holyday season of easter. i do also see that itb took the virginity of safe banking in norway , and must also admit that the criminals were daredevilish when committing this robbery

the film product are among the very few heist films that really makes me feel like hanging in a tread, good filming,informative timeline, great acting,and extremely well made sound product. do have in mind the vast negativism by the citizens of stavanger,who had to go through all this again, there were large protest meeting and the political opinion wre vastly against the making of this film, because the film is shot on location, and therefore makes an even more vivid impression of the actions.

its 15 yrs since the nokas, the perputrators are beginning to be released from norwegian prisons these days, i still have this happening in my guts,the loss of a policeman, many wrecked soles among the nokas employees, and within the police , god bless all of them.

if you like heist movies ,do watch nokas, its pure robbery. recommended.

Really good camera work

[Janne_Mellgren · 9/10 · 30 April 2019]

Like you are an invisible spectator in all the situations. I felt "involved" from the 1st to the last scene. Not over dramatized.

Norwegian Heat

[xanitra-12056 · 10/10 · 2 May 2021]

This is one of the best Norwegian movies ever made, which recreates the Nokas robbery that happened in Stavanger in 2004.

The movie doesn't go too far as an action movie, and feels like filmed from real events. It also captures life in general for many people when this robbery occurred, which resulted in the death of a decorated police officer.

Yes this isn't Heat, and this wasn't made in Hollywood. But the movie still has many of the qualities that made Heat, great.

I've watched this movie many times. Although Norwegian movies usually are a mixed bag, the words 'nailed it' really describes my feelings when Nokas comes to mind.

This movie has English subtitles, and is a must watch, for anybody lucky enough to get their hands on it.

A well made heist movie

[coastalgrind · 8/10 · 23 April 2023]

Nokas is a 2010 movie about Norway's most spectacular robbery that took place in the early morning of April 5th 2004. It's shot much like a documentary, giving a minute by minute account of what happened from several perspectives: the robbers, the police, those who worked at the bank and everyday people. The over the shoulder style of filming works really well and adds a realistic and intense feeling that carries through the entirety of the movie. Unlike many other heist movies, this focuses strictly on what happened before and during the heist, and the consequences of what happened. Therefore I'd say it's the story that is the films main protagonist, while the characters are just there to serve that story, without going into much detail who these people are or how they got to this point.

Erik Skjoldbjærg does an extraordinary job at serving the story with respect to those that were involved, without glorifying the actions of the robbers while at the same time giving an realistic insight into what happened. You get to see just how unprepared the police in Norway were at this time, taken aback not expecting such a brutal robbery to take place during the middle of a public holiday and the robbers fully taking advantage of this. The shoot-out scenes as well are extremely realistic. Most civilians in Norway had never experienced such a thing before, so a lot of them would just walk through the line of fire while the robbers and police are shooting at each other, with many believing the entire situation was just a drill. There's even a guy who was taken hostage during the robbery who later confessed that it wasn't before the robbers tried to leave that he was finally starting the realise the magnitude of what he was just experiencing. The entirety of this robbery was from all perspectives one huge chaotic event. Skjoldbjærg does a fantastic job of portraying the panic the robbers experienced when things didn't go their way, to how the understaffed police went on to handle the situation. When the movie is finally over, you can't help but feel that you've just watched something great.

Nokas is a must see heist movie for everyone that loves intense realistic thrillers.

Rating: 8/10.