THE QUIET ONES (2025) is a very dry Danish true crime movie about a heist that happened in 2008. The main character Kasper (Gustav Giese, RIDERS OF JUSTICE) is a boxer, but seems to also have a past in armed robbery. He’s trying to make a comeback in the ring but one day Slimani (Reda Kateba, LOST RIVER), whose group we saw really blow it in an opening armored car robbery, asks to meet with him. He heard from Kasper’s brother-in-law that he was “smart.”

Their target is a cash processing facility. Basically just like a warehouse fenced off in an industrial area. The impetus (which comes from the real crime that inspired the movie) is that the company who runs the place posted a promotional video on their websight showing off what they do. The thieves watch the video together and laugh in disbelief that somebody was stupid enough to post all this information. We don’t see it, but apparently it reveals to them the layout of the building and which currencies are stored where – easy break-in instructions. Kasper agrees to plan the robbery, but not go in, even though it means a smaller cut.

A couple things go wrong early on. One, while they’re checking out the roof of the place in advance a security guard, Maria (Amanda Collin, THE PROMISED LAND) sees Kasper waiting in the car, makes him take his hat off and takes a long look at his face (which features a very distinct scar) before telling him to leave. Two, much worse, somebody else must’ve seen the video, because the place gets robbed before they do it. Largest haul in history. They’d been afraid of this happening, too. They knew this was an irresistible score.

I don’t know if it’s his competitive spirit from boxing or what but Kasper keeps thinking about it and convinces the crew not to call it off, he has a different idea for how to get in, with a more ambitious approach that involves stealing a bunch of garbage trucks and using them to block all the major streets, slowing down the police response. Reminds me of something Parker would do, but this part was also real!

That security guard Maria is kind of the antagonist, and I like the minimalistic way they establish her. Before encountering Kasper she gets one scene where she’s interviewing to become a police officer. Given a scenario where a civilian is injured and the perpetrator runs off she insists that the bystander will be okay and she won’t let the criminal get away. I can’t tell if she really feels that way, or if she’s just trying to impress the recruiter (who does not seem to end up hiring her), and I also wonder whether she was already that way or just trying to live up to it when she treats her dumb security job with that type of tenacity. During the robbery the dispatcher tells her that they’re going to do the same as the police, wait for SWAT before doing anything. She decides to go rogue and try to trap the thieves behind a gate. To protect money.

This is merely a description, not a judgment, but THE QUIET ONES is a crime drama, not an action movie. I wasn’t sure that would be the case because Kasper does seem like a formidable boxer, why wouldn’t that be used in the robbery? But it’s not. I can also imagine a version of this where during the escape it turns into thrilling chasing and shooting – like a HEAT kind of thing, heavy action when the shit goes down. This isn’t that either. I actually really like the unconventional way they stage the escape, shot entirely inside the getaway car, with fogged-up windows and police lights all around. Disorienting, dreamy, impressionistic, very effective, but not technically action by my definition. I just want to make that clear.

Lack of intense shootouts aside there’s an unmistakable Michael Mann influence in the pacing, the mood, and the ominous, building synth music by Martin Dirkov (THE APPRENTICE, HOLY SPIDER, INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE). It’s not imitating Tangerine Dream’s sound exactly, much more contemporary, but it kind of feels like them. I definitely thought of THIEF in a few scenes.

Without knowing the details of the true story it feels authentic, so it’s that tension of watching some crazy shit unfold, waiting for them to hit a dead end. In an action movie you assume the main thief will get away and it’ll be a fun time. Here you can’t escape the sinking feeling that this whole caper is unwinnable. This is not something most people can just do and then go back to regular life. When they’re in the building failing to bulldoze through a wall as planned, turning on each other, then filling the bags as the clock is ticking, all that stuff made my stomach twist into knots. But it feels even more doomed in the daylight the next day. Yeah, they managed to leave the scene. Now what? How long before it catches up to them, you think? I can’t imagine it will be very long. I like that the movie finishes the heist early and leaves plenty of time for a series of gloomy “oh shit” moments as various shoes drop.

And the thing is the reason we “like” Kasper in a movie sense is that he seems to really love his wife (Camilla Lau), he’s great with his kid, this robbery thing isn’t the main part of his life. So when he’s at the hideout and his brother-in-law tells him he has to leave the country immediately it’s a real gut punch. He’s kind of in denial about the corner he’s painted himself into, where no matter what he does it will be abandoning the people he loves. The real HEAT moment is something akin to the Ashley Judd signaling Val Kilmer part. Good for her. Heartbreaking, though.

But now that I’m writing this I realize he really should’ve considered that he was planning a heist right before his daughter’s birthday! That is some pretty irresponsible double-booking in my opinion. That’s not really like him.

There’s a contrast between Kasper and Slimani, who seems okay enough until one shocking moment of domestic violence. Yeah, one of these two guys we trust more not to kill somebody when they’re confronted. I think this method of storytelling works well for the movie – everything cut to the bone. A scene that gets the point across and then the topic doesn’t have to be revisited.

It’s understated about absolutely everything. We’re hearing on the news all the time about the financial crises in the U.S. and Sweden and how it will or won’t effect Denmark, Kasper is realizing his boxing career might not go as well as he wants, he lives humbly and wants more for his family, but they don’t have to say more than that. They don’t have to claim medical debt or do an emotional monologue about he’s tired of being a loser or anything like that. They know you get the idea.

I don’t know what the title means (and a web translator gives the original title De lydløse a little different meaning, “The silent ones”), but yeah, Kasper is a stoic dude, and Giese works well for that type of lead. You read so much into his blank expressions and narrow eyes, and in the space between his drive to do this and what also seems like his natural state: spending lazy days goofing around with his kid, making her laugh. He’s got a scary look with his ripped, inked body, long neck and cold eyes, but his sweetheart side seems genuine. I can’t tell from this if he’s an “I’d watch him do anything!” type of actor, but he’s definitely fascinating to watch doing this.

Time did an article about the movie and “the Thrilling True Story of Denmark’s Biggest Heist,” which gives us the interesting information that director Frederik Louis Hviid (ENFORCEMENT) convinced the real criminal Kasper is based on, Steffen Baadsgaard Andersen (who is in fact a heavily inked boxer), to work on the movie as a consultant. He claims that the entire heist section is “exactly 100% as I remember it.”

Not that it’s important for us to see how crimes were really committed, but you know it can be really appealing to watch something that feels real, that’s far beyond anything you’d ever encounter in your life but not exaggerated into Hollywood bullshit. It’s not a deep movie by any means, but it’s a compelling experience.