The Quiet Ones – A Hasty Heist Homage

The Quiet Ones is director Frederik Louis Hviid’s sophomore feature, one that attempts to tackle the biggest robbery in the history of Denmark with undeniable inspirations from Michael Mann’s Heat and utilizing an abundance of heist film tropes. The film follows Kasper (Giese), an aspiring boxer who leads a double life in the criminal underbelly, reluctantly undertaking a heist plan proposed by Slimani (Kateb) and Hasse (Christopher Wagelin), despite a failed operation the prior year. Meanwhile, caught in the crosshairs is Maria (Collin), an ambitious security guard looking to make a difference in her newly appointed position.

Hviid’s take on the heist genre, unfortunately, falls short of even reaching some of Heat’s derivative follow-ups, such as Den of Thieves, whose recent sequel release will surely hinder the film’s chances at resonating with audiences already fulfilled by their yearly heist film intake. Anders Frithiof August’s script renders the film void of any opportunity of being redeemable in other facets of its filmmaking techniques. Its hollow character development, questionable character decisions, and poor setup of the stakes in play afflict any sense of narrative cohesion.

The absence of Kasper’s conflict between balancing his family life, boxing career, and criminal undertakings makes us unaware of where his motivations truly lie, whether it be providing for his family or leaving his mark on the world. The brief focus on Slimani’s personal life is extremely puzzling, as Hviid rapidly showcases the connection to his love interest and the abuse that follows without ever returning to these story ideas later in the film, leaving a level of disdain for a character that never really gets his proper karma. Following a commanding lead performance in Raised by Wolves, Collin is wasted as Maria’s determination and involvement is underdeveloped in the ability to foil their plans, rendering a pointless payoff and questioning why this character was in the film in the first place. As a result of these character choices, The Quiet Ones provides little motivation to care about these criminals’ needs to complete this daunting task whose stakes never seemed dire despite a history-making, multi-million-dollar heist being presented. As a result, audiences are more likely to find intrigue through deep diving into the sea of articles detailing the real events with believably less time commitment.

The opening sequence involving the aforementioned failed heist does invite some promise to Hviid’s ability to direct as he incorporates Adam Wallenstein’s cinematography through the use of space and depth to highlight the dangers in place, and Martin Dirkov’s moody music to display the grit and dread faced when things go south. Everything that follows is where Hviid seemingly throws all of his cards out the window, where many of the elements that worked so well together deteriorated into shaky camera work and dull score choices that aren’t enough to balance August’s underwhelming script. Coupling these issues together, the heist itself results in a jumbled mess of uncoordinated filmmaking techniques that renders the film almost completely anticlimactic.

Following his directorial debut Enforcement, The Quiet Ones is Hviid’s new take on the heist genre, which tries to take inspiration from Michael Mann’s Heat but falls short at even surpassing some of the genre’s derivative takes, such as Den of Thieves. August’s script is empty of proper character development, character decisions, and narrative cohesion to keep viewers invested in these irredeemable and unlikeable characters. Despite an engaging opening sequence, Hviid’s uncoordinated use of filmmaking techniques results in a disappointing misfire that’s better left quiet.

still courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

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Costa Christoulas

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