Movie Review: Headhunters

Morten Tyldum adapts Jo Nesbø's novel for the big screen which is story of a headhunter who leads a double life. Roger Brown(Aksel Hennie) is a headhunter who has expensive tastes beyond his means even though he has a successful career and also a beautiful wife. In order to keep the extravagant lifestyle in fear of everything he holds dear especially his stunning wife, he steals art with the help of his friend and sells them. When Clas Greve (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) shows up in his life, everything turns upside down.

When the subject is a crime thriller, there is nothing to beat Scandinavian noir. Even the movies coming out of this region in this genre are graphic and realistic which ends up as an entertaining fare. The actors are better than their counterparts in Hollywood. If you have any doubt, check out the Millennium trilogy. The original Millennium trilogy and not the watered-down, disappointing Fincher-Craig version. Headhunters is a Norwegian movie. The protagonist and the antagonist are not familiar faces for us. But they are refreshing since we do not know what to expect as we have no preconceived notions about the movie.

Morten Tyldum leisurely builds the premise at the same time not boring us to death. When the ambitious Roger Brown gets the first hint of his life falling apart, the movie picks up momentum. Then it keeps us on our toes where we are trying to outguess the plot. It is over here the director and his team make us squirm in our seats by taking the unconventional routes. The loose ends are all neatly tied in the end. The picturesque locations of Norway are beautifully captured giving us something we have not seen in the past. As for the performance, Aksel Hennie stands out as he has a difficult job to perform as a confident guy who ends up as pawn in someone's plan where his life spirals out of control.

If you love thrillers, then this is for you. If you are a fan of Scandinavian noir, don't think further. Go for it.

You can watch the trailer here.

Language: Norwegian

Genre: Thriller

Rating: ****

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