I'm the Angel of Death: Pusher III

The last part of the trilogy doesn’t rush and surprisingly keeps the emotions in check, which makes the blow it delivers in the climax to the viewer’s “pleasure” brought on by unveiling the Danish underworld all the more powerful. Without prior knowledge of the previous installments, where the supporting character Milo (Zlatko Buric) was intriguing but didn’t satisfy your curiosity, you won’t get the full experience. That knowledge, however, makes the climax darker and more intense than the viewer expects. Nicolas Winding Refn goes into existential dimensions here, elevating a gangster film to a dark reflection of the hidden shadows of contemporary society. Illustrating the gradual escalation of the psychological deviance of the main character with noises and gloomy musical tones is precisely the kind of resourcefulness that I appreciate the most in filmmakers. I want to lock a hungry Hannibal Lecter and a high-as-a-kite Milo in the same room together! (27/06/2016)

The third part of the Pusher trilogy is definitely the roughest of all the three parts. The roughest and the most brutal that is. Mainly in the sense that it tells the story of the gangster Milo, who has two different faces, but who doesn’t allow you to see the brutal terror that he is able to create on either of them. The last thirty minutes are from the world of filmmaking genius, when I was silently staring at the screen and slowly and very unsurely realizing how crazy this world can be… Once the final credits started rolling and a very interesting and depressing tune started playing, I realized what a crazy look I had been giving my TV. Quite an unbelievable and very rough film experience. (10/04/2017)

The pinnacle. In the sense that all the partial motifs of the previous two films are combined into an incredibly strong and film-uncompromising whole, which shifts to the viewer's eyes with butcher's obviousness the filth hitherto suspected. Burič had been a generator of charisma in the previous Pushers, but here he literally enjoyed the counterpoint of the closed Northerners. His Milo has the Serbian theatrics, the hot-bloodedness and immediacy, and the hallmark of an untouchable godfather – all the more painful is his fall into a pit of solitude. The ultimate punishment in the Pusher series is not bullets or daggers, but helpless loneliness and isolation. In this regard the third film comes the farthest, has the most distinctive inner "arc" in the construction of the main character, and the ending is masterfully motionless and at the same time screaming the title feeling of the whole trilogy. A modern Godfather-junkie muddied by the Copenhagen periphery. Refn's trilogy is nothing less. (26/10/2010)

Nicolas Winding Refn's star-studded cult trilogy about dealers is second to none. Refn has done an interesting job in all three episodes, each dealing with one of the main characters. The first one is probably the most authentic, with Kim Bodnia going from one screw-up to the next. I found the second part with Mads Mikkelsen the least interesting but still decent, and in the finale the main dealer Zlatko Buric falls into the clutches of the Albanians. Slavko Labovic and his brutal corpse cleaning are already iconic. It's very raw, Danishly grim, dirty and realistic to the point of chilling. Good stuff. 85%. (15/02/2019)

The third and hopefully final trip by Nicolas Winding Refn into the environment of the Copenhagen gallery. Unfortunately, compared to the previous installment, I perceive herein a significant decline in quality, which is by no means only related to the fact that Zlatko Buric is simply not Mads Mikkelsen. The screenplay is clearly weaker and where it lacks the credibility of the characters and the logic of their behavior, Refn replaces it with vulgarity and explicit portrayal of violence. The scenes of body disposal were far beyond what I would consider appropriate for a similar spectacle. Overall impression: 35%. One of the few successful scenes for me is the one where the seemingly warm relationship between father and daughter quickly turns into harsh bargaining among business partners in the drug trade. (06/09/2015)

The preparation and subsequent celebration of a daughter's birthday has perhaps never been more bizarre. The climax of this Danish trilogy focuses on the nice guy Milo and his trials and tribulations. I was really was starting to get a little worried when my favorite character was letting himself get messed with by Albanian and Turkish bastards who put him in unpleasant situations that he wasn’t doing anything about. Luckily, Radovan helps in the end and the final cleaning becomes a sticky, but damn impressive icing on the cake. Remember. Never do anything without gloves. (06/11/2010)