By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.8 cats
Director: Morten Tyldum
Starring: Aksel Hennie | Elvind Sandler | Julie R. Ølgaard | Nikolaj Coster-Waldau | Synnøve Macody Lund
Original language title: Hodejegern
Country: germany, norway
Year: 2012
Running time: 100
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1614989/
Jason says: “What makes for a good thriller? There are many recipes, but it’s the results that matter; the audience should spend as much time as possible excited by what’s about to happen, in addition to what’s going on in the moment. HEADHUNTERS does a legitimately exceptional job of that, letting the audience enjoy the roller-coaster ride its unlikely protagonist is on without playing down to anybody.
“Roger Brown (Aksel Hennie) is an Oslo corporate headhunter who between his expensive house, lavish gifts to wife Diana (Synnøve Macody Lund), and girlfriend Lotte (Julie Ølgaard) is living well beyond his means. He finances this lifestyle by moonlighting as an art thief, using intelligence he gleans at his day job and a partner who works for an alarm company – Ove (Eivind Sander) – to get things done quickly and quietly. At the opening of Diana’s new gallery, he meets Clas Greve (Nikloj Coster-Waldau), a recent arrival from Denmark who is both perfect for a CEO job he’s recruiting for and the inheritor of a piece lost since WWII – although things that look too good to be true often are.
“Director Morten Tyldum and writers Lars Gudmestad & Ulf Ryberg (adapting a novel by Jo Nesbø) don’t mess around with just how bad an idea stealing that painting is, or anything, really. HEADHUNTERS lays most of the information that the audience needs to know out early, and there’s not a lot of it – just enough to kick off an entertaining chase. And once that’s on, it’s one thing after another with nary a moment for Roger or the audience to stop for breath, with the focus tightening to Roger as the movie goes on so that cut-aways don’t slow things down. Even last-act revelations (which are actually pretty slick) don’t require a pause to explain things.
“The action scenes that the movie runs between are pretty great, too. Tyldum stages them with both clarity and intensity, and more important, inventiveness. A straightforward action scene will get kicked up a notch and then get downright strange. Someone, somewhere along the line, had a wickedly dark sense of humor, and Tyldum shows a great ability to get some very big laughs without sacrificing tension. There’s a couple of especially great sequences that run the full gamut of tones, including a climactic bit that it’s quite honestly surprising that I can’t recall seeing before. The set pieces may not be incredibly elaborate, but they are great surprises both in terms of what they do and how they do it.
“Roger delivers a little narration to set the scene, although Aksel Hennie’s performance is good enough that we could have gone without if need be. There’s a combination of cockiness and self-doubt to it that makes the character entirely believable, and while Roger’s attitude and actions will often put him in anti-hero territory, but nevertheless earns the audience’s sympathy. Niklaj Coster-Waldau’s Clas is set up as his opposite in every way and makes for a great, dogged adversary, in part because he can show confusion without appearing weak. Even though the pair are not supposed to be evenly-matched at all, they are great complements for each other and both strong enough that Headhunters can become a great game of cat-and-mouse. Synnøve Macody, Eivind Sander, and Julie R. Ølgaard all fill supporting roles very well indeed, and I suspect that what misdirection several are called upon to perform is going to look even better on a second viewing.
“I’m honestly looking forward to that second viewing, and likely more after that. Lots of thrillers can get by on mere surprise – and Headhunters does that better than most – but very few have a rogue’s gallery that is this much fun even when getting knocked off, or scenes that strike such a perfect balance between nail-biting suspense and gut-busting laughter. This is a good one, not to be missed. 5 cats
“Seen 29 April 2012 in Somerville Theatre #2 (Independent Film Festival Boston 2012, 35mm)”
Toni says: “I really like the setup but the best characters for reasons in the script did not get the best amount of screen time…also, any film closing with a bun in the over turns a black comedy thriller into the style of film it trying to parody by tying it up way to nicely with a bow…I can see there will be an American remake but it played out to me like an American remake of a better Norwegian film…The first third was brilliant to me, the 2nd third good but not great, and the last third was too conventional for my taste. I was disappointed more so because I had such hope hopes waiting in long line at IFFB to see it only to find it just got released in theaters a few weeks later…
“It may just be me…what I find as its weaknesses might be scene as strengths due to the over the top comedic effect that encompasses the film. 2.75 cats”
Chris says: “Art theft in the guise of corporate headhunting is all fun and games until you discover an unconscious body slumped over in the front seat of your car (or find yourself literally standing up to your ears in shit). This quick-witted, twisty and occasionally gruesome Norwegian import starts off slow but is a hoot from the moment that body shows up in the car. Aksel Hennie is a refreshingly diminutive anti-hero, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is a delectably deceitful villain and the story is involving and enjoyable enough to nearly make up for its implausibility. 3.5 cats”
Thom says: “Here in San Francisco this Norwegian crime-thriller has been a hot little ticket for many weeks now and it’s easy enough to see why. Roger Brown (a striking looking Hennie with hypnotic eyes) is a high-end international headhunter (with no apparent similarities with Costa Rican pal Chris, who had a similar job) who is living well beyond his means. He’s married to a gorgeous trophy wife who’s just opened up an expensive art gallery and now desperately wants children. He supplements his considerable income by reproducing high-ticket art pieces and substituting them with the originals, which he and his partner do when the owners are not home. He’s also ending a lurid affair with an obsessive woman not unlike Glenn Close in FATAL ATTRACTION (in more ways than one). At his wife Diana’s (a gorgeous Macody Lund) gallery opening she introduces him to Clas Greve (a handsome Coster-Waldau who should get many parts) an international player looking for a top-rung position, who also happens to have a seriously valuable Reubens canvas in his apartment. That Clas is much more than he claims to be sets off a dizzy whirl of run & hunt that got my adrenalin up to a dangerously high level. There is one scene that is so revolting I’m loath to describe it, but it sinks to a new level of human degradation. Lots of plot twist and turns and while I’m not certain that all questions were answered satisfactorily it is a fun ride. Brown begins as such a scumbag that it’s rather contrived to expect us to be rooting for him as the film races forward but fans of Scandinavian thrillers will enjoy. 4 cats”