Summary
The Helicopter Heist is nothing new, but it’s a very well-oiled example of reliable genre fare, bolstered by true-crime authenticity and committed performances.
If there are two things everybody loves these days, it’s true crime and heist thrillers. The Helicopter Heist knows this, which is why the Swedish Netflix series has the swagger of a show quite assured of its impending success. As familiar as it might feel in several respects, there’s something to these eight episodes that’s difficult to pin down.
The show is based on the Vastberga helicopter robbery, a real-life heist of a G4S cash service depot in 2009 using a stolen Bell 206 Jet Ranger as transport. It was a pretty newsworthy event at the time, but the logistics aren’t really the point here. Instead, the lifelong friendship between two of the perpetrators, Michel (Ardalan Esmaili) and Rami (Mahmut Suvakci), forms a compelling dramatic backbone.
You’ll recognize the usual beats. Friends since childhood, Michel and Rami indulged in the planning and execution of increasingly daring heists until, inevitably, it went wrong. On the cusp of stepping away from the criminal life forever, Rami was arrested and imprisoned for five years. The friendship came to an end, and upon his release, Rami built himself a new life – or tried to, anyway.
I’m aware that on paper The Helicopter Heist doesn’t sound especially interesting; it’s almost cartoonishly cliché, in fact. Rami’s personal reinvention goes terribly wrong and he gambles all his savings – and a good chunk of borrowed investment capital – in a shrimp import business that turns out to be a scam. At his lowest ebb, Rami runs into Michel, and they both agree to carry out One Last Heist™ to solve all their financial problems – and scratch that longstanding criminal itch.
The Helicopter Heist Still | Image via Netflix
It just so happens that by the time all this setup has unfolded you’re invested, almost behind your own back. I don’t know how other people will fare, but I’ve watched a lot of stuff very much like this, and I bought into Rami’s plight all the same; I was rooting for him and his family out of the gate, and I stayed on his side throughout. Michel is a bit more morally ambiguous, but you need that as a counterweight.
Speaking of which, there’s the obligatory law enforcement involvement too, since you can’t have a cat-and-mouse narrative without the cats, and Chief Inspector Leonie Hamsik makes a nice parallel with Rami. She’s family-oriented too, raising a young boy alone and grieving the loss of her older brother, but she’s more morally principled and upstanding, which is why she’s attracted to the other side of the aisle.
The beats are as you’d expect – Rami and Michel plan the heist, Leonie picks up clues about its existence, and it’s a race to pull off the robbery before it’s thwarted by the authorities. The real case provides some narrative shape through the various stages of planning, adjustment, execution, and aftermath, but it’s the fictionalized dramatic work that does the heavy lifting to fill in the gaps and give the retelling some emotional depth.
Are we supposed to root for the lawbreakers? Hard to say. It’s usually the sign of a well-written series if you find yourself doing so, and that’s the case with The Helicopter Heist. Don’t get me wrong – it’s nothing new. But it is a very well-oiled example of crowd-pleasing genre fare supplemented by intriguing real-life details and admirable performances. This is the kind of show that Netflix churns out for fun, but it’s also the kind of show that’ll take hold unexpectedly and dominate most-watched lists all over the world. That may or may not happen here, but if it does, I’d say it’s pretty deserved.
