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Headhunters DVD Review

Director: Morten Tyldum

Cast: Aksel Hennie, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Synnove Macody Lund, Elvin Sander

Running time: 99 minutes

Certificate: 15

Extras: Behind The Scenes, Trailer

Scandinavian cinema is very much in vogue. In the last five-six years THE MILLENNIUM TRILOGY, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN and TROLL HUNTER have rippled the waters of the UK box office. Morten Tyldum’s HEADHUNTERS, based on Jo Nesbo’s novel, continued the trend earlier this year with mesmerising results.

Roger Brown’s (Hennie) life is a lie, and his job as a headhunter not enough to fund his extravagant life or his wife Diana’s (Lund) expensive tastes. To supplement his income he steals art, selling it in Sweden with his accomplice Ove (Sander); all is going well until Clas Greve (Coster-Waldau) arrives, and Roger learns he has a painting worth 100 million Norwegian Krone (about £10 million). Naturally his attempts to procure the painting lead Roger into trouble.

Stephen King is famous – or infamous – for denouncing most book-to-film adaptations based on his work. He apparently doesn’t mind STAND BY ME, THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION and THE MIST. Jo Nesbo’s reaction to this adaptation has been much more welcoming, speaking with The Guardian earlier this year Nesbo said:

… first time I saw it I was looking at other things, technical things. But I saw it just two weeks ago in Perth, in an outdoor cinema, and it was amazing. I was really happy with it the second time.

The author’s thumbs up come as no surprise given how much there is to enjoy: the cast are excellent throughout, each role is perfectly cast – even the controversial Synnove Macody Lund, a film critic in her first acting role; the screenplay is beautifully structured giving enough information to keep you glued to the edge of your seat, never allowing you to relax; Tyldum’s direction is water tight, the making of on the DVD confirms how determined he is and the work pays off massively, but most of all the story – minus one or two things – is very believable. The troubles are a slightly monotonous segment with very little dialogue in the middle of the film, but otherwise it’s perfect, and features a final 30 minutes of fantastic storytelling worth anyone’s time. HEADHUNTERS is a tremendous achievement, and takes the Scandinavian invasion to new heights.

Extras: The making of is very interesting and warrants your time, the trailer less so.

  HEADHUNTERS is released on DVD and Blu-ray and download on 13th August from Momentum Pictures.

 

Sam is a bloody lovely lad born and raised in Bristol (he’s still there and can’t escape). Favourite films include THE LOST BOYS, DRIVE, FIGHT CLUB and COMMANDO, well pretty much any 1980s Arnie film you can throw his way…even RED SONJA. Sam once cancelled a Total Film subscription after they slagged off Teen Wolf. He resubscribed 2 days later.

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