George Gates
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.
intelearts
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.
dovomu
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.
thomas_bechmann
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.
AD
