We start with the tale being told by Sebastian, played by Matthias Schweighöfer (who is also the director), of a sad old man, a locksmith who created four safes which were horribly hard to break into, three of which feature in this film. The fourth one lays at the bottom of the sea with the sad man inside after he ended his own life, having lost the will to live after his wife and son died. A story that we don't hear much more about.
We switch rapidly to observing the dull life of Sebastian going about his daily work as a clerk in a bank, but who has an interesting hobby - yes, cracking safes! He decides to make a YouTube video about the aforementioned locksmith and promptly publishes. As a result of this, he's invited to attend a (what appears to be underground) competition (in the style of Fight Club!) where an organisation is presenting like-minded people with challenges to crown the top safe-breaker.
Attending this event, lurking in the corners, is the super-criminal Gwendoline, looking to recruit someone to join her team of hoods, thus beginning the heist part of the film and Sebastian's introduction to the gang of (now) five. Korina is the computer nerd, Brad is the muscle, Rolph is the driver and Gwendoline the brains - and fairly nifty fighter if needed!
So, the team start planning to hit each of the three safes in their situations, using their collective skills and attributes, then legging it with the loot. We journey with the team, Mission: Impossible style, as they hit one after the other, but more importantly, the story focuses on the interplay between the characters which is arguably more interesting than what they're doing, as I said.
Each of the five has a backstory and attitude, getting them to where they are now, which we sample bit-by-bit, interwoven into the process of the heists. The dialogue between the main players is well-constructed, funny often, simple sometimes, complicated others. There's hidden agendas and sub-plots going on as we learn more about the thread between Gwendoline's and Brad's relationship, now hijacked by Sebastian and Gwendoline falling for each other! Anyway, back to the plot and the smart planning involved in order to throw the irritated Interpol detective off their scent and ensuring that the team stays one step ahead. He's very funny too, adding to the mix of humour, tension, suspense and action as they all go about their business on each side of the story and law. It really is pretty good fun and keep you smiling.
The whole cast, apart from Schweighöfer do a great job, Nathalie Emmanuel (Game of Thrones, Fast & Furious) as Gwendoline, Ruby O Fee (Polar) as Korina, Stuart Martin (Babylon) as Brad, Guz Khan (Zapped) as Rolph and Jonathan Cohen (Amanda) as Delacroix the detective. Excellent characters with super teamwork. Schweighöfer is engaging in the main leading role particularly, too - you can't help but like him, feel sorry for him, be amused by him and ultimately hope that he gets the girl! It's on Netflix if anyone fancies a look. I'm off to watch Army of the Dead now which apparently has more to do with the Zombies in America, loosely referred to in this film but not explored much.
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