It’s all about reputation. Or so we’re told in the opening scene of Headhunters, a Norwegian crime thriller coming to cinemas in April. Roger Brown (Aksel Hennie) is a respected corporate headhunter, below average height and nothing special to look at, his life is a collection of status symbols: his car, his house, and even his wife Diana (Julie R. Ølgaard), a tall, svelte, blonde, supermodel-esque beauty. Despite his highly successful career his life is a carefully constructed web of lies and debt as he struggles to maintain his life of comfort, one he’s convinced is required in order to keep his wife. So, beneath the facade of his stylish glossy world, he hides a secondary career as an art thief, selling off the treasures in order to better provide the illusion of prosperity.
The first thing that strikes you when watching Headhunters is that it’s extraordinarily droll, not just funny but suspenseful and quick-witted. Roger, facing mounting money problems, is thrown a life-line in meeting affluent businessman Clas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) who, it just so happens, has a long lost Rembrandt hiding away in his apartment. Clas is the embodiment of Roger’s inadequacies about himself; he’s handsome, confident, charming, successful, rich – in essence all the things that Roger strives for. Whilst Roger is a consummate thief (he does have some help), he is not naturally violent or threatening and pitted against Clas, an ex-special forces and tracking technology expert, he is wildly out of his depth; to recall a scene from the movie he finds himself squarely in the shit.
The movie progresses from one delightfully, and unexpectedly, hilarious scene to another, with escalating violence that is as preposterous as it is fun. Twisting and turning, we’re as unaware of who to trust, and of who is trying to kill Roger, as he is himself and as he runs from the relentlessly ubiquitous Clas, his priority shifts from getting away with the heist to simply surviving. Headhunters makes for very compelling viewing, a lot happens but it’s not rushed and there’s plenty of action keeping the story progression moving forward, not getting dull at any point. Often disturbingly violent the film counters this with the sheer hilarity of the situations Roger finds himself in, the movie blithely switches from a zany carefree tone to intense moments of cruelty and death, with Hennie playing a wonderfully endearing underdog for us to root for.
As it builds to it’s crescendo the methodic, calculated, precision that Roger utilises on his heists is translated into the story as we’re shown exactly what we need to in order for a highly satisfying and very intelligent ending. A humorous, unconventional, violent take on the crime thriller, Headhunters is one to see for utter gratifying madness of it all.
Headhunters is released in theatres April 6.
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