Dir: Colin McIvor | UK Thriller 2026. 99′
Inspired by an extraordinary true story, and set in heavily policed, post conflict Belfast, two Northern Bank workers become pawns when a dangerous gang use tiger-kidnapping in an unorthodox bank heist.
Tiger-kidnapping essentially involves the victims committing the crime. Of course, they’re doing so against their will, so conviction is avoided. This is still the biggest robbery ever committed on Irish or British soil and ludicrously, the real perpetrators are still at large. But the Northern Bank have managed to mitigate the theft: by changing the design of their notes so the stolen money could be identified.
Brilliant idea then. But how about the film? No Ordinary Heist is certainly tense from the beginning; compulsive even, thanks to a tightly-written script. Eddie Marsan, as the boss of the bank, and Éanna Hardwicke who plays Barry, his key employee and ‘accomplice’, are really convincing.
The two men are already at loggerheads in a fractious boss/employee relationship, and this is made worse by the stress of the robbery and the pressure put on them by the perps. To make it worse, Richard is having to make staff redundancies, and Barry’s on the list. Being a classic workaholic, Richard is not getting on with his wife either. (Eva Birthistle). She is then kidnapped along with Barry’s mother (Andrea Irvine) and the two bank men find themselves forced to organise the robbery, under nail-biting pressure, to avoid being killed, along with their wives.
Richard and Barry find themselves having to cooperate with each other in order to meet telephone deadlines for arranging the transport of bank notes into waiting vans. At the same time they are constantly scrutinised by their own security personnel – and here Michelle Fairley is a woman to be reckoned with as the hard-bitten Mags Fulton. All the classic tropes are wheeled out providing a sweaty scenario. Of course, the tension comes from not knowing exactly how the crime will play out, and the human story between Barry and Richard. No Ordinary Heist is a well-made and watchable crime caper.
In cinemas nationwide and in Ireland on the 27th March.