Frederik Louis Hviid’s The Quiet Ones is a reminder of the simple pleasures of a caper film with ice in its veins, populated with men whose fortitude predisposes them to pulling off a big job. In the case of this film, the job is a real one that occurred in 2008 amid the global economic collapse, and the 71 million kroner take made it the biggest robbery in the history of Denmark. The film’s staunch commitment to verisimilitude is its greatest strength, with Hviid’s patient, subdued approach to the material crystallizing the life-or-death stakes of the heist.
At the center of the operation are its two tight-lipped, meticulous masterminds: wannabe boxer Kasper (Gustav Dyekjær Giese) and his slick, mustachioed Moroccan friend Slimani (Reda Kateb). Throughout the film, we witness the lengths that the two men and their accomplices go to in order to test the viability of their plans. From their dry run to see how functional the cameras are at the cash handling firm they’ve set their sights on to the various strategies they employ to block police and security guards’ access to the building, The Quiet Ones keys us into the minute nuts and bolts of the extensive tactical planning that’s been put in motion.
The film, written by Anders Frithiof August, presents its thieves through a morally grey lens. Their ingenuity and proficiency are admirable, but as The Quiet Ones provides glimpses of the darkness lurking within them, it ensures that we don’t become endeared to them. A short scene showing Slimani abusing his wife after she discovers that he has a gun in the house hints at how deadly he may be, while Kasper, despite his sweetness toward his doting young daughter (Dagmar Madicken Greve Halse), carries the unmistakable scars of a violent past.
The Quiet Ones is, at times, a bit slack in its pacing, particularly in moments that aren’t focused on the planning and execution of the big crime. One subplot involves the potential foil for our anti-heroes, a security guard named Maria (Amanda Collin), and while her no-nonsense, merciless approach to stopping crime makes her a fitting adversary, the character always feels as if she’s going through obligatory genre paces. Worse, the ultimate payoff of her story is frustratingly minor given the amount of time that the film spends with her.
Yet, for every stretch that feels a tad sluggish, there’s another that’s intensely gripping. A chaotic police chase through rain-soaked streets is one such highlight, finding the typically reserved Kasper and Slimani in a state of fear and anxiety, while the brief yet chilling opening scene, which depicts a disastrous attempted robbery that Slimani was involved in the previous year, perfectly sets the stakes for the rest of the film. The Quiet Ones may not break any new ground in the heist genre, but like its crooks, it’s shrewdly effective when it sticks to the essentials.
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