Money Heist review

 

WHAT'S THE STORY?

MONEY HEIST (known in Spanish as La casa de papel) is a Spanish crime drama featuring a group of misfit thieves attempting to rob the Royal Mint of Spain. When a young woman (Úrsula Corberó) loses her partner after a failed bank robbery, she is recruited by a man known only as The Professor (Álvaro Morte) to join a group of misfit criminals who have nothing to lose by participating in a major heist. Now known by the code name Tokio, she joins jewel thief Berlin (Pedro Alonso), check forger Nairobi (Alba Flores), a young hacker known as Rio (Miguel Herrán), father-son team Moscú (Pace Tous), and Denver (Jaime Lorente), and cousins Oslo (Roberto García Ruiz) and Helsinki (Darko Peric), two former Serbian soldiers, in devising a system for taking over the Spanish Mint in order to print out, and escaping with, over two billion Euro. Now, five months later, the group carries out its task. But despite The Professor’s strict rules and clearly researched plans, things aren’t going as expected. Throughout it all, some of what transpired during the five months of preparation is revealed. Meanwhile, the personal stories of some of the members, hostages, and law enforcement begin to intertwine and get complicated. 

IS IT ANY GOOD?

This crime drama offers a complex story world that combines components of the traditional bank heist plotline with action sequences and elements of the surreal. Because the series was originally produced as a two-part limited series, the main cast is given the time to evolve into multi-dimensional characters, which makes them worth investing in. Furthermore, despite the fact that key events are often narrated by Tokio, a range of individual stories are woven together in unexpected ways, broadening the point of view. But despite streaming in shorter installments (and the reliance on subtitles for non-Spanish speaking viewers), Money Heist remains a skillfully crafted, engaging adult-oriented tale that is worth the watch.