Roger Brown is a short man with big ideas as well as a
Napoleon complex. He has a tall beautiful wife for whom he has bought an
ultra-modern luxury house and whom he lavishes with expensive gifts, neither of
which he can afford, and anyway she would in fact just prefer to have a
child. To finance this lifestyle he supplements
his income as a Headhunter by moonlighting as an art thief.
One day in the Art Gallery he had bought his wife he
meets a handsome Dutch executive Clas Greve who he feels would be perfect fit for
a high-ranking job he has to fill. Over lunch the next day Roger also discovers
that Clas owns a long-lost priceless Rubens Painting and when he later goes to
steal it, he discovers that Clas has already actually robbed Roger of his wife’s
affection. In his anger Roger is now determined
that Clas will not get the important job that he has already interviewed
for, but that decision inadvertently starts of a whole stream of terrifying
nightmarish and deadly experiences for Roger who had no idea that devious Clas, an ex
army mercenary, was not actually at all who he had appeared to be, and had a totally
different agenda.
The violence that follows in what is essentially a manhunt
is seemingly endless and beyond brutal.
Roger’s fight to just stay alive lands him in the shit …. literally …in
this manically paced thriller that has you sitting on the edge of the seat
(although in my case I was not clutching it for dear life, but covering my eyes as
some of the many excessively bloody scenes.
This Norwegian movie based on a best selling novel has more than the odd cinematic nod to the styles of both Hitchcock and the Coen
Brothers, although in the latter case it’s rather surreal cruelty seemed even
too exorbitant even for them. As unlikely as
the rather clever twisted story was, the ending was still something of a
surprise. I’m not sure if it is the one
that I would have chosen, but then again I probably don't have it in me to have
such a nasty imagination as the writer has.
That said, I must confess I did love it even though I
was so outside my comfort zone. Great acting too from a cast I didn't recognize although
if I did still own a TV I would have spotted that Mr Coster-Waldou who plays
Clas is currently in 'Game of Thrones’. Scandinavian
filmmakers seem to excel at this genre of movies, so much so, that just like the Swedish ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’ there’s a Hollywood version already in the works.
★★★★★★★★★
★★★★★★★★★
