Headhunters

Genre perversion in the Norwegian style. A heist, a drama about a guy with low self-esteem issues, exploitation, a thriller... Tyldum didn't quite handle the connection, and at times his conception is unpleasantly television-like and sterile, but some of the passages are almost divine (especially the part with shit and the tractor). Nesbo is undoubtedly a clever author – the story feels deliberately stupid only to surprise (within the genre limits) with solid twists at the end. The film could benefit from more perspective and better dialogues. The entertainment it offers is on the edge of guilty pleasure. Aksel Hennie in the main role is somewhere between Christopher Walken and Steve Buscemi... his focused and believable transformation from a complex dwarf to a man at his limit forces me to give 4* to this boundless and not-quite-managed directing weirdness. (26/10/2011)

It’s been long since two dead fat people were so funny… A perfect Nordic thriller, and, against expectations, it’s not serious or depressing, but a brisk and entertaining film that knows how to make you feel tension, surprise and fun. PS: Plus points for giving a certain animal species the end it deserved (#cantavoidphobia). (10/11/2011)

Aksel Hennie was born for the role of the slippery Roger and the polished charisma of Nikolaj Coster-Waldau suits the film, but unfortunately, the originality was somewhere else. For every well-constructed idea or bizarre joke, there is also one wasted. I enjoy both the dramatic introduction and the chilling development of the thriller, but in the end, due to some minor simplifications, there is a lack of more satisfying twists. The Jo Nesbø source material has more lightness in it. (12/12/2015)

The difference between what I expected and what I got is too huge. Headhunters is a sort of brutal Nordic pulp, properly cold, chilling, and balanced with a reasonable amount of irony and detachment. The chilling moments don't quite measure up to the best of Fincher, the screenwriting twist where "it all goes pear-shaped" is a worthy match for the Coens, and the proper butchery makes one think of earlier equally proper old-school American pieces. With all the charming melancholy of Scandinavia and a not entirely predictable conclusion, Headhunters can comfortably endeavor for foreign film status for 2011. I would sincerely wish them that, although I "honestly" doubt they’ll even get a nomination. I'd love to be wrong, because the inventiveness in this is truly immense. (09/01/2012)

Whatever you're expecting… It won’t happen. A genre chameleon about a stunted Walken which proves that Joe Nesbø works well on the film screen despite the plotholes (the age of the corpse one can forgive with half-closed eyes, let's say, but the hospital staff or the one who finds Roger - is it possible that no one would get in touch or ask them after the case was publicized?). (11/02/2012)