The fictionalised part is an annoyance as you come out not knowing what was true and what was made up. I get the sense it’s mostly true and that they didn’t want to offend or indeed pay, any of the real participants as the sequence of events isn’t very cinematic with the ending drawn out in a hocky-cokey fashion.
Anyway, Ethan Hawke plays Lars, a career criminal who likes American things now. He puts on his Texas biker jacket and a flowing wig before heading to the bank. He shoots the place up and grabs some hostages including the large spectacled Noomi Rapace who triggers the silent alarm, beginning the stand off with the police that lasts the rest of the film.
Hawke immediately demands the release of his criminal pal Mark Strong who is allowed to enter the bank after the majority of hostages are freed. We then get an hour of shouting as the two sides try to broker a settlement that keeps everyone happy. As things develop the three remaining hostages get friendly with their captors and Noomi even gives out some loving after she takes a bullet when a stand off goes wrong.
After a few days and with sufficient run time gained, the police lose interest , along with the audience, and plan to end the siege by pumping tear gas into the vault where our heroes are holed up. Who will survive? And will Noomi like Hawke when she sees it’s really a wig?
This was an OK film but I think the story would have been better served with a documentary rather than by trying to add humour and drama to an already interesting subject. We don’t know what was really said or done in the vault - at least not if you rely on the film - so the action seems like speculation at best. The ending was so muddled with them in the vault, out the vault then back in the vault and then out again you assume that bit must have been true. Early on you knew it wasn’t going to be a bloodbath so there was no real sense of peril.
The film hinged on the relationship between Hawke and Rapace’s characters and I wasn’t buying. In the real life event the bonding took place over 5 days - in a 90 minute film she just looks mental for immediately falling for an obvious nutter.
The sets and costumes were great with the 70’s beige look excellently realised. I didn’t like the annoying and dithering police inspector and I felt the usually reliable, Aviva voice over man, Mark Strong was miscast as the balding bank robber, Gunnar.
It’s a decent offering but you won’t learn anything and the mishandled ending will leave you feeling dissatisfied. If the plan was for you to gain a bond with the characters and to defend their lacklustre film after spending 90 minutes with it, it failed!
THE Tag Line Swede Drama’s a Turnip 58%
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