An accomplished headhunter risks everything to obtain a valuable painting owned by a former mercenary.
It may verge on the unhinged at times but Headhunters is breathlessly, outrageously entertaining.
A nice blend of Scandinavian sophistication and Hollywood slickness, Headhunters is an entertaining Nordic noir achievement – and sure to be tagged as this year’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
Headhunters is such a fresh, compact, giddy delight, that I was happy to go along with it.
A slick thriller which takes place in a moral vacuum. It’s fascinating rather than exciting, but makes for chilly thrills with two strong, charismatic lead performances, a great deal of style and amusingly repulsive, ruthless twists.
Behind the cold calculation of the narrative lies a warm heart and an uplifting message about love. See it before the Hollywood remake.
Just as it’s hard not to warm to Roger, it’s hard not to respect a film that, in the end, remembers how to have fun with such ridiculous material.
Hennie’s performance works jolly hard to win our last-ditch sympathies, but the movie’s cold outlandishness — wickedly funny, at times — makes us feel like willing dupes in a con game.
The parts barely relate, never mind work together.
Despite the added satirical depths, this is a movie that will only need a single viewing to 'get'.
Well worth hunting out.
You would have to go a fair way to beat Tyldum's thriller, with its pitch perfect leading man and its sheer commitment to providing wall to wall thrills. Hunt it down now.
If it does look pretty sadistic by the end, then at least it's sadism carried off with style and a crushing black sense of humour.
A blend of black comedy, intricate twists and turns – plus an anti-hero we can relate to – there’s been nothing as captivating since No Country For Old Men.
Revels in the absurdity of its super-charged Hitchcockian story, and it's all the more enjoyable for it.
Jo Nesbø's novel has been expertly transformed into a cool, brutal, deeply Scandinavian thriller.
Profile: Aksel Hennie--star of Jo Nesbo's Headhunters
Morten Tyldum
General release. Check local listings for show times.
Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow from Friday April 20, 2012, until Thursday April 26, 2012. More info: http://www.glasgowfilm.org/theatre/
Cameo, Edinburgh from Friday May 11, 2012, until Thursday May 24, 2012. More info: http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/
Edinburgh Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Friday June 8, 2012, until Thursday June 14, 2012. More info: www.filmhousecinema.com
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