The Helicopter Heist (Netflix), from creator Ronnie Sandahl (writer of Borg Vs. McEnroe) and with the participation of director Daniel Espinosa (Safe House), is an eight-episode crime thriller based on true events: the 2009 Västberga chopper robbery in Sweden, where heisters landed on top of a cash distribution facility and made off with the goods without firing a shot. At the center of the Helicopter Heist version of events are two lifelong pals, Rami (Mahmut Suvakci) and Michel (Ardalan Esmaili), and the way their reasons for engaging in such a high-risk, high-reward crime both converge and diverge. Johanna Hedberg, Iskra Kostić, and Erik Svedberg-Zelmen also star.
Opening Shot: While he hides out in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, we hear the words of Rami (Suvakci) as he writes a note to his wife Karin (Hedberg). It is three weeks after the big heist.
The Gist: The timeline of The Helicopter Heist is all jumbled up. After meeting Rami in the present, we jump to ten months before, back when he was still a guy determined to go straight despite his criminal past. As his voiceover continues, we learn how Rami ran with Michel (Esmaili) as kids, both of them immigrants to Sweden whose bond was built through shoplifting thrills. We learn how they grew up to be criminals, with Michel as the mastermind of a series of precision armored car robberies. And we see how meeting Karin by chance transformed Rami’s whole outlook. Their first child was born while he was in prison. But by the second, they are married, and he’s working as a cook in a restaurant, while also trying to get a foodservice distributorship idea off the ground. “I believe in you,” Karin tells Rami. “I see someone who is so damn brave, who has changed his whole life.”
Has he, though? When Michel makes contact with Rami, they haven’t seen each other for quite some time. But it’s also the exact right (wrong?) time, because Rami has found himself in a severe cash crunch. An ex-con with a wife and two little kids – just spitballing here, but maybe hooking back up with your old heist crew is not the best idea? Nevertheless, Michel introduces Rami to a few new people, as well as his big new plan for the ultimate payday.
As the timeline of Helicopter Heist stays fragmented, we’ll see more of the not-legit stuff Michel has been up to in Rami’s absence, and gain a greater understanding of the family dynamic with Karin and his sons that Rami longs to preserve. Could he have scrambled and saved enough while still working as a cook to help them find greater financial stability and a home of their own? Probably. But the way his eyes light up once Michel explains the facets of the new operation, with its potential for a huge payoff and greater potential to simply be the boldest, ballsiest crime Sweden has seen in forever – for Rami, he can’t deny that the excitement of it is a motivator. Michel smiles as he takes a drag off his cigarette. “They always think that people like you and me will strike from below…”
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? OK, here’s a trail of connections. Are you ready? Snabba Cash, “Easy Money” in Swedish, is a taut 2022 crime series for Netflix, co-starring Ardalan Esmaili of Helicopter Heist, that was based on the 2006 novel of the same name by Jens Lapidus. But Lapidus’ book was also the basis for Easy Money, Helicopter Heist director Daniel Espinosa’s 2010 film debut, starring Joel Kinnaman, in which Helicopter star Mahmut Suvakci also appeared.
Our Take: “The truth is, we became robbers because we loved it.” With Helicopter Heist, even before the series gets to anything as daring as landing stolen choppers on the roofs of secure facilities so as to steal stacks of cash, we were drawn into the powerful bond Rami shares with Michel. It’s a bond that dates to their childhood, but one that’s also full of relevance in the present, because it exists in direct opposition to what Rami has with his wife Karin and their two small children. And while it’s soon clear that Michel has always been about that crime life – we’re interested in learning more about his history, too – with Rami, something explosive has grown between his criminal life with his bff and his legit life with his wife. The line he drew, the demarcation between those parts, has become totally unstable. And for as much as we’re on board with watching the planning and doing of a big time crime, Rami’s internal conflict and desperate decision-making already feels like it will be a powerful driver for where Helicopter Heist is taking us.
Sex and Skin: None.
Parting Shot: Over a final shot of Michel and Rami as boys, riding their bikes and grinning, an adult Rami can’t hide his excitement over being reunited with his best friend. Plans for their biggest job ever start coming together, despite the danger, and despite the risk to the life Rami has built with his wife and children.
Sleeper Star: As things move along in Helicopter Heist we’ll see more of Iskra Kostić as Detective Chief Inspector Leonie Hamsik, who is sure to be a thorn in the heisters’ side.
Most Pilot-y Line: “I’ve missed exactly this,” Michel tells Rami once they reconnect early on in Helicopter Heist. “Standing here, thinking, dreaming – planning.” For them, the criminal world is as much about camaraderie as it is the action and/or the juice.
Our Call: STREAM IT. In The Helicopter Heist, the sense of chemistry between Mahmut Suvakci and Ardalan Esmaili as criminal pals is immediate. And that raises the stakes considerably, both for the elaborate and dangerous crime they undertake – we love a good gathering of the team and planning/execution of their operation – but also what’s left in the margins, like the very real risk to Rami’s legitimate life as a husband and father.
Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.